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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27928978">Off The Deep End</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/walkerofthestars/pseuds/walkerofthestars'>walkerofthestars</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Off The Deep End [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Young Justice (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AU, Aged up characters, Alternate Season Two, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Assassin!Dick Grayson, Bamf!Dick Grayson, Birdflash - Freeform, Canon-Typical Violence, Court of Owls, Damian Wayne makes an appearance- as an infant, Dick Grayson is Renegade, Dick Grayson is Robin, Dick Grayson will be Nightwing, Dick Grayson's sister (OC character), Dick goes through some shit and it takes a while for him to figure out who he is, Dick has a pet birb and she's the best character in this, Dick's parents are not as normal as you'd think, I'll add wanrings before the bad stuff dw, If You Squint - Freeform, League of Assassins - Freeform, M/M, Spitfire - Freeform, Supermartian, Sympathetic Villains, Wally's dad was an ass and his mum is dead, an OC who is not a self insert or OP who'd a thunk, aquabird, as in, beta as in i posted this on wattpad first lmao, but also i get pretty descriptive in here, cliches, eventually, i guess, i had to give him some angst too Dick can't be the only one, i never realised how much i like the idea of Dick and Kaldur as a couple before writing this, in the background - Freeform, like that's the whoe point this was written to involve cliches, of course, season two young justice, they aren't all horrible people, to begin with it doens't work out the poor boys, tw mentions and depictions of drug abuse/adiction, tw mentions of domestic abuse</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 10:00:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>124,359</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27928978</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/walkerofthestars/pseuds/walkerofthestars</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A mission goes South and Robin is in the firing line from Batman- literally.<br/>In the face of Tony Zucco being let out of jail early, Dick seems distracted. Batman tries to bench him, but it leads Dick to an impulsive move that leaves him unable to return to the Team or the League.<br/>Years later, Aqualad goes undercover in the Light, and his greatest obstacle is the strange man who works for Ra's Al Ghul- an impressive and deadly assassin known as Renegade. </p><p>(this was written for a contest on wattpad wherein I wrote a story with as many YJ fandom cliches as I could. the intention was crack, I... took it seriously and am actually proud of this fic)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dick Grayson/Kaldur'ahm, Dick Grayson/Wally West</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Off The Deep End [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2064954</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>103</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Court Case and the Aftereffects</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>HEY HEY<br/>so, as stated before, I wrote this for a competition that entailed collecting all the cliches in Wattpad's Young Justice fandom and shoving them all into one fic. most people went for crack, which is fair, that was my first instinct as well, but I actually came up with a plot while collecting cliches so I figured 'why not'. I do really like this fic, it's the first long-chaptered one I've finished, and it was a blast to write.<br/>I will state though: I pushed myself here and there and really tried to go ham. some of the fight scenes do get a bit graphic, I will put warnings beforehand, don't worry.<br/>On top of that, as mentioned in the tags, there will be mentions and depictions of drug abuse/addiction. Dick doesn't go through it himself, I don't wanna spoil to much, but it is talked about. I will put warnings beforehand, don't worry.<br/>Also also, Wally has just gotten out of an abusive living situation. I don't go into it to much because I don't think i could tackle it with any level of tact at my current skill level, plus I had a deadline, but there are mentions of that.<br/>and, uh... I think that's it in the trigger area.<br/>I aged Dick up to fifteen for this. it starts at a couple months or so after the first season ends. Wally and Artemis are thus also aged up but the rest are all the same.<br/>okay, happy reading!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>The Court Case and the Aftereffects </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Wherein the Scene is Set </strong>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The collar was stiff and itchy, and Dick had decided he would burn it when he got home.<br/>He’d burn down this whole courthouse if he could, but according to Black Canary he had to keep his goals realistic. So the shirt it was. And maybe the pants. They were pretty annoying. <br/>The jury quieted, the courtroom settled and Dick eyed the microphone on the witness stand with forced worry. This would be easy. He just had to recount the night, the events, without breaking down. His testimony had to be enough to prove things right. It would be, how could it not be?<br/>“first, please state your name and age for the record.” Tony Zucco’s lawyer said, and Dick wished he could add him to the list of things on the bonfire. <br/>“Richard John Grayson,” he said into the mic, gripped his hands together in his lap under the bench, his nails dug into the skin, “15 years.” 16 in like two weeks but whatever.<br/>“where were you the night of the incident?”<br/>He had to be joking. Dick’s face immediately fell into an annoyed façade and a camera snapped a picture before he could cover it back up.<br/>“I was in the back of the circus tent, looking in on the performance. I saw it happen.”<br/>“could you recount the event for the court?” the lawyer asked, and he shared a glance with Zucco, Dick caught the tiniest glimpse of a smirk. <br/>“where would you like me to start?” Dick asked, trying to force the innocent kid image that the media needed to believe. <br/>“the performance, when you started watching.”<br/>“I peeked in before the lights came up, I was focusing on my parents up on the platform. I was only eight so I couldn’t perform, but I knew everything about the act and how it should go down. When they started the performance I noticed there was something wrong with the equipment, I noticed some of the wires had been sabotaged.”<br/>“how did you know this?”<br/>“would you like me to explain the intricacies of a trapeze and how it should be maintained?” Dick said, with a smile that allowed him to hide the angered clench of his jaw.<br/>The lawyer’s face dropped only long enough for Dick to notice, but he soon replaced the annoyance with a smile and said “no, continue.”<br/>“I didn’t know what to do so I continued watching hoping the tampering wasn’t that bad, eventually I noticed that it was that bad and I ran out to tell them. I climbed the ladder and my dad told me to go back, he swung out but I managed to tell him the wires were damaged before he was too far to hear. He caught my mother and was about to swing her to the platform I stood on when the wires snapped and the two fell.” <br/>His voice started to peter out, he cleared his throat as inconspicuously as possible once he was done talking. He’d recounted it before, plenty of times. He became less attached to the words with every telling.<br/>“thank you, Mr. Grayson, for telling the court this.” The lawyer turned to face the juror, “I must ask, however, how such an event incriminates my client to such a degree that there is no doubt he was at fault? My client was not even present for the performance. And he certainly has no knowledge of a trapeze and its workings.”<br/>Dick’s hands fisted as he fought not to glare at the lawyer. <br/>“Mr. Grayson, I understand you were young when my client was put away, but I must ask if you even knew him before the event.” The lawyer said, “as you were too young to testify at the time of his persecution.”<br/>“I did not know him,” Richard said, “but-“<br/>“exactly. My client was never affiliated with the Grayson family, he has no motive. Why would he harm an innocent family of performers?”<br/>The courtroom mumbled slightly as the lawyer’s smug smile radiated. Dick took a deep breath. It was time for the truth he wasn’t able to tell so many years ago to come out. <br/>“Tony Zucco killed my parents as a financial blow to Jack Haley, the ringleader, because he refused to pay Zucco for protection from his gang.” Dick caught the lawyer’s eyes and held them, daring him to speak against him, “he organised the deaths of my parents as revenge. and I know this because I heard him arguing with Haley the night before my parent’s deaths.”<br/>Zucco shot from his seat, “that’s a lie!”<br/>“it’s the truth!” Dick yelled back.<br/>“Zucco has no gang associations!” the lawyer yelled over them, “he never has!”<br/>“I heard him threaten Haley! I saw him storm out of the trailer!”<br/>“ORDER!” the Judge yelled over them, but Zucco did not listen. <br/>“I never wanted Haley’s dirt money!” Zucco said, pointing at Dick, “You’re making shit up, boy!”<br/>“Mr. Zucco, compose yourself or you will be removed from this courtroom!” The Judge threatened. <br/>The courtroom eased as Dick took a deep breath and forced his shoulders to relax. <br/>“Mr. Grayson, do you have proof of this accusation?” the lawyer asked through near-gritted teeth.<br/>Dick said, “no.”<br/>“then how would you have this court believe your accusations?”<br/>Dick said, “I would ask the court to take into consideration the investigation lead by Commissioner Jim Gordon and his findings of Tony Zucco’s affiliations with the Gotham Maroni Family mob.”<br/>Zucco gripped his cane and his lawyer cleared his throat. <br/>The court room was quiet. <br/>“this evidence has been taken into consideration, Mr. Grayson, and it is also known that the evidence of that investigation is shaky at best,” the lawyer said, “due to the fact it was effected by interruption from the vigilantes known as Batman and Robin.”<br/>Dick forced his jaw to relax, “so it doesn’t matter to you because it was found by people your government doesn’t pay and arm to discover the truth?”<br/>“evidence gained from vigilante forces like Batman can be tampered with, do you have any proof that is not under speculation?”<br/>Dick swallowed, pursed his lips.<br/>He found Bruce in the seats, trying to give a smile or some form of assistance, silently. Even still, he felt no support in his face.<br/>Dick looked down, “no.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He didn’t quite believe the ruling when he heard it. the ring of the judge’s gavel resounded in his head, the view of the jury voting blurred in front of his eyes. <br/>Bruce helped guide him out, Alfred at his other side. Bruce was asking if he just wanted to go straight home or if he wanted to go somewhere, Dick didn’t answer.<br/>Zucco was out. On parole. But out. <br/>How in the name of-<br/>How?<br/>How could this happen? There was so much proof, so much that should put Zucco in jail for the rest of his short, evil, crappy life. <br/>“Dick? You hear me chum?” Bruce asked, pulling him aside from the crowd, “it’s gonna be okay.”<br/>Dick took a deep breath, “How can they let him out?”<br/>Bruce’s face fell, “sometimes-“<br/>“no,” Dick’s hands fisted at his sides, “no ‘sometimes bad things happen’, ‘sometimes bad people aren’t punished’, ‘sometimes you have to live with it’ speeches, I’ve heard them all already.”<br/>Bruce pursed his lips, “sometimes there is no reason.”<br/>“no, there is a reason,” Dick said, held Bruce’ eyes, “the reason is because Batman found the information. Batman and Robin ruined this case.”<br/>“Dick-“<br/>“Whatever Bruce,” Dick said, shoved his hands in his pockets, “let’s go back to the manor.”<br/>Bruce sighed as his shoulders dropped, but he followed Dick out, glaring any reporters down who tried to approach. <br/>Out on the steps of the court house stood people there to support him, but Dick found nothing in them except the need to cover up the real reason behind Zucco’s freedom. <br/>Selina gave him a hug, Diana offered a smile, Thalia lurked behind unsure how to approach this. Bruce shared an awkward look with all of them. <br/>That tended to happen when you were standing with your secret wife, the fling from your early days and the person everyone shipped your alter ego with. Dick usually found it hilarious when they all had to be around each other, now it was just annoying.<br/>“do you want to head home?” Selina asked, “or we can visit the cemetery? Or-“<br/>“it’s fine, I just wanna head back to the manor,” Dick said, frowned at Diana, “you didn’t have to come all this way.”<br/>“yes, I did,” she smiled.<br/>If he was like Bruce’s adoptive son then Selina was like his adoptive mother. But Diana was the figure who’d taken him in when he became Robin, seeing as Selina wasn’t quite in the picture yet. Dick still remembered the secret wedding, Diana had been a bridesmaid. <br/>Thalia, however, was a bit more complicated. <br/>Honestly Dick didn’t know what she was to him. She’d had a thing with Bruce before he came into the picture. She’d had no real connection but when she met him she’d immediately started being less stony to Bruce and coming by Gotham more.<br/>Nevertheless, she seemed hesitant to come forward. as they headed for the car Thalia walked by his side. <br/>“I cannot pretend to understand what you must be going through,” she said, “but I offer support.”<br/>Dick gave her a thin smile, “thanks,” he sighed, “it’s just… they were my only family. I’d thought I was over it but this has just brought it all back.”<br/>Thalia glanced at Bruce, “you never truly ‘get over it’, it just becomes easier to act in spite of the pain.”<br/>Dick nodded, “yeah,” he sighed, “but, hey, I’ve got to count my blessings, right?” he tried not to be too spiteful, but the things people said in the media and all over the internet still got to him, “at least it all got me here.”<br/>Thalia shook her head, “the outcome of an event does not negate the initial or lasting experience.”<br/>They were at the car, Alfred opened the doors for everyone and Dick turned to Thalia, “it was nice seeing you. Thanks for coming.”<br/>“any time,” she turned away, as Dick got in the car she hesitated, “your parents would be proud of you.”<br/>Dick gave a grateful nod and wave as she disappeared into the crowd. He ducked into the car with a sigh. <br/>Bruce gave him a smile, his face clearly asking if he was okay. <br/><em>‘fine’</em> he tried to answer back, but he knew it was a lie.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>The Mission That Must Go Wrong</strong>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Wally was extremely annoyed he couldn’t be in court on the day to support Dick. He was also annoyed he wasn’t able to be home to watch the case on the news so he could immediately console/help his friend when they met up instead of waiting for a recount. <br/>But that was a downside to moving out of your parent’s house and into your uncle’s, sometimes schedules got messed up.<br/>He was at Mount Justice, catching up with the case. The team didn’t know why he was adamant that he watch, but eventually they were all with him in the lounge room. They figured it must be important, so therefore they should be there. <br/>“ouch,” Artemis said, wincing as the ruling was given, “Robin won’t be happy about this. If he was involved with the investigation and that’s why it was thrown out.”<br/>Wally grunted an acknowledgement but he was too busy figuring out how to best breach the topic with his friend. <br/>“it happened years ago, maybe he’ll be okay?” Megan asked.<br/>“robin or the guy in the court case?”<br/>“both, I guess,” she said, “maybe I’ll make cookies to cheer him up.”<br/>“do you want help?” Artemis asked, maybe to keep herself busy, maybe to make sure the cookies weren’t burnt. Probably a mix of both.<br/>“I’d leave that for later,” Aqualad said, “We have a mission today.”<br/>Great. <br/>The case had happened the day before. Wally had tried to text Dick, call him, he’d even gone to Discord. He got no answer. He was worried. Extremely worried. <br/>But now he was caught up on the case thanks to the news, and Dick would be in the mountain soon. even though they had a mission. <br/>Why would Batman give them a mission the day after such a crazy event for Robin? That just felt wrong. <br/>Either way when the zeta-tubes lit up Robin stepped out and so did Batman. <br/>Wally sped over, he wanted to hug Dick but he knew that sometimes Dick preferred space. He gave his friend a smile and a low “how are you?”<br/>Robin walked straight by him, “dealing with it.”<br/>Wally walked along at his side, Batman took his place by the computer, and Robin sighed. <br/>“We’ll talk later, this mission’s pretty important.”<br/>“what is it?” Wally asked. <br/>Robin nodded to Batman as the rest of the team gathered, “you’ll see.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Robin had not moved in a good hour. For the third time since she sat Megan shifted her weight. <br/>“how are you doing that?” she asked, voice low. <br/>“doing what?”<br/>“you’re still as a statue,” she said, “how are your legs not screaming?”<br/>He shrugged, “practice? I’ve staked out a lot of places.”<br/>He didn’t know why they’d decided on M’gann being stuck on the roof with him. Artemis seemed like a better choice. Robin had nothing against M’gann’s ability, she was great at what she did. But what she did often didn’t include sitting on roofs for long lengths of time. <br/>“so what are we supposed to be doing other than waiting?”<br/>“not talking.”<br/>“oh.”<br/>She looked away, cringing as she trained her eyes back on the warehouse below. Gotham was full of these abandoned/not well kept warehouses, and Dick didn’t know how the police hadn’t decided to just have them all bulldozed. Everyone knew they were frequented by the Gotham mobs and their ilk. <br/>After a few minutes of comforting silence M’gann turned her face back to him. <br/>“so… how are you?”<br/>Robin sighed through his nose, “fine. Why?”<br/>“well, Wally was watching this court case and-“<br/>“what?” his head whipped to her. Had Wally told them?<br/>“there was this guy, he was trying to win a case against someone? I don’t remember it too well, there was a lot of legal jargon. But it turned out the guy was given parole because the evidence couldn’t be taken as it as from you and Batman.”<br/>“oh,” Robin turned back to look at the warehouse, “yeah, I’m fine.”<br/>“are you sure?” she said, “it mustn’t be great to know you’re involvement in a case meant someone couldn’t be brought to justice and instead got out of jail early.”<br/>“I said I’m fine,” He reiterated, tried not to scowl. <br/>“okay,” M’gann said, clearly seeing he didn’t want to talk about it, “just wanted to make sure. You know, I’m here if you need help.”<br/><em>‘I don’t need anyone’s help.’</em><br/>He swallowed, kept his eyes on the warehouse, looking for any movement. <br/><em>‘all fine up on the roof?’</em> came Artemis’s voice over the mind link. <br/><em>‘fine,’</em> Dick answered. and privately thought <em>‘everything’s. fine.’</em><br/>It was times like these he was glad he knew how to create mental shields, the team did not need to be privy to his mental state. <br/><em>‘we’re good on the north side,’</em> Wally stated over the link, <em>‘nothing happening. Kal, what’s happening from the water?’</em><br/><em>‘nothing I-‘</em> his voice faltered over the link, <em>‘wait, there’s a small ship coming in to the warehouse’s dock.’ </em><br/><em>‘I think I can see it,’</em> Dick said, eyeing a small fishing boat slowly getting closer. If Batman’s information was right they must be the mobsters coming with the shipment. <br/><em>‘affirmative,’</em> Dick took out his small binoculars from his belt, <em>‘that’s it. I can see Falcone at the wheel.’</em><br/><em>‘how do we want to play this?’ </em>Artemis asked. <br/><em>‘we let them dock, begin the process of the trade. Once we have confirmation of what they’re buying we alert Batman. we follow the buyers and back up Batman when he decides to move.’</em><br/><em>‘and the Falcone’s?’</em> Wally asked. <br/><em>‘they’re not a part of the mission,’ </em>Robin said.<br/>They all watched as the ship docked, people started filing out, only a group of 10. They lugged several large metal boxes out of the ship and onto the dollies kept at the dock, then wheeled them closer to the warehouse. Three men slunk out through a door and chatted with them. Eventually Falcone decided to grace them with his presence.<br/>His men parted like the red see for him, he fixed the lapels of his jacket and flicked his wrist to check the time. <br/><em>‘what are they saying?’</em> Robin asked over the link. <br/>M’gann changed something in the link with Superboy and played what he was hearing over the link. <br/><em>‘it’s almost one, can we perhaps get this done with before five? Last time you all spent far too long for my taste.’<br/>‘we’ll try our best, sir.’</em><br/>They rolled up the warehouse door high enough to let the dollies in, the men filed in and Falcone strutted along at a leisurely pace.<br/>Robin gave M’gann a nod and they started to make their way to the mezzanine inside via the hallways and ducks. They knew that Artemis and Kid Flash would be doing the same. Superboy sticking to the main exit on the other side of the building, Aqualad would come out of the water and sit by the door the men had just gone through. <br/>Superboy kept the sound over the link as Robin and M’gann snuck through the rafters. <br/><em>‘Everything is present, I’m sure,”</em>  a new voice carried over. <br/><em>‘everything your boss man ordered, my boy, no troubles. The usual price, the usual compromises.’</em> There was an audible smile in Falcone’s voice. <br/>‘<em>I’m sure you understand my men checking, regardless.’<br/>‘of course, no problem, do what you need.’</em><br/>There was one thing Robin couldn’t fault the Falcone’s for, and it was that they did their business with a degree of class. <br/>Finally he managed to find a spot on the mezzanine where no one could see him easily but he’d still have a good view. He watched Falcone light a cigarette and lean on a shelf, the other guy’s men began searching through the crates, making sure everything was there. It was a mix of fire arms, ammo and explosives, a few other things here and there. <br/>Now they were in the warehouse with a decent spot Superboy didn’t need to send what he overheard through the link, Robin could hear the voices below with ease. <br/>“so how’s your mother Pino, she good?”<br/>“great, she got those flowers you sent for her birthday. She and pa have been flat out lately, she appreciated it.”<br/>“ah, that’s good. Lovely woman she is, her pumpkin Gnocchi is,” Falcone held his hand to his chest as his eyes strayed to the sky, “a blessing from god.”<br/>“ah, that it is, that it is.” The man, Pino, said. <br/>“will there be some at the reunion, planned?” Falcone said, “I understand you’ve had someone high up come back in from the watch house, definitely terms for celebration.”<br/>Robin zeroed in, no longer paying attention to the men going through the crates, he ran the name Pino through his mind, something wasn’t right he had a hunch. <br/>“yes, the case was settled just yesterday. There’ll be gnocchi and my Aunt’s famous champagne trifle.”<br/>Aarrrgh, darn Gotham’s Italian mobs and their inability to stop talking about food.<br/>“well I’ll have to make sure my schedule is empty, I can’t miss that.”<br/>Aside from the food, they were talking about someone important enough in Pino’s mob that a ‘welcome back’ party had been planned. and apparently the case was settled just yesterday. <br/>There was a mobster’s case that immediately came to mind.<br/>Robin finally remembered where he knew the name Pino from. The Maroni’s.<br/>That was Pino Maroni down there. Doing business with Carmine Falcone, a member of a crime family that had been an enemy of the Maroni’s for years. <br/>Robin told himself that the need to interrogate Pino came from needing information, but deep down he knew exactly why he wanted to wring the man’s neck. He was a Maroni, he’d probably paid off the jury, probably organised the lawyer and definitely would reap the benefits of his parent’s killer being free. <br/>Robin shifted, he needed to see Pino’s face. He had no solid proof other than what had been inferred. If he could see the man’s face he’d recognise him. Batman would understand. <br/>Robin uncoiled himself from his position and slowly crept along the mezzanine. <br/><em>‘Robin what are you doing?’</em> M’gann asked over the link, <em>‘what’s wrong?’<br/>‘I just need to check something.’ </em><br/><em>‘what’s Robin doing?’</em> Artemis asked. <br/><em>‘he’s moving.’<br/>‘Dude, careful, you could be caught,’ </em>Wally said and Robin’s jaw clenched. <br/><em>‘I know what I’m doing, chill,’ </em>Robin said, finally finding another position where he could see Pino’s face. There was no doubt, that was Pino. <br/><em>‘we’ve got a complication, Falcone’s men are leaving,’</em> Aqualad said and Robin whipped his head to the men who had brought the crates in. <br/><em>‘what? But Falcone is still there,’</em> Artemis said.<br/>But nevertheless, when Robin looked to Falcone’s men they were filing out, leaving their boss alone with a rival crime gang.<br/><em>‘why would Falcone let his back up disappear?’ </em>Robin wondered. <br/><em>‘aren’t they supposed to leave the boat here, seeing as it’s not theirs, and head out into Gotham? Isn’t that what the tip said?’</em> M’gann asked. <br/><em>‘obviously Batman’s information was a bit strayed from truth,’</em> Robin said as he shifted more to get closer to the main entrance, the mezzanine creaked and he stilled. <br/><em>‘are you good?’<br/>‘rust in the beams, I didn’t notice,’</em> Robin cursed himself as he eyed the mezzanine’s structure, trying to find a path without making noise. It was hard when he couldn’t move anything but his head without shifting his weight, <em>‘I’ll figure something, go camo and keep track of Falcone’s men.’</em><br/><em>‘Artemis is tailing them, I’ll help you out,’</em> M’gann said, creeping closer. <br/><em>‘no don’t, you’ll shift something.’<br/>‘it’s fine,’</em> M’gann turned camo and floated over. She grabbed Robin’s body mentally and started to float him off of the mezzanine. <br/><em>‘M’gann, don’t, it’ll-’</em> as he lifted off the steel it creaked and groaned, his weight was taken from the metal and it shrieked as it settled. <br/>And all of the gangsters below looked up to them, not able to see them easily, but Pino and Falcone simultaneously ordered their goons to go up and investigate. The particularly trigger happy ones took guns and fired up into the mezzanine. <br/>Megan dropped Robin and he scampered away, the steel thundered. He had no time to worry about stealth.<br/>There was nowhere to go but the rafters, and he’d be a sitting duck. <br/><em>‘Rob!’</em> Wally shouted over the link, and suddenly a yellow blur shot through the warehouse, confiscating the guns from the firing squad below and then zipping up to the mezzanine. <br/>“what are you doing?” Robin hissed. <br/>“getting you out of the way!” Wally said as he picked Robin up and zipped off the mezzanine, “you’re welcome!”<br/>He set him down in the open part of the warehouse, near the crates, and all of Falcone and Pino’s men who hadn’t gone to the mezzanine turned to them. <br/>“I’ll give my thanks when it’s called for,” Robin grumbled as he took out his escrima sticks.<br/>“oh well,” Wally grinned, “I was hoping for a bit of action anyway!”<br/><em>‘Superboy and I will take the men outside the warehouse,’</em> Aqualad said.<br/><em>‘Megan and I have those up in the second level,’</em> Artemis said. <br/><em>‘which leaves us with this lot,’ </em>Wally said. <br/>Falcone and Pino ordered their remaining men at the two. Robin rushed in without hesitation. At least now he had an excuse to beat up a Maroni, that would take some stress out.<br/>He moved between all the men easily, Wally sped through them and took them out with ease. They were all down in no time at all, and Robin launched himself at Pino. <br/><em>‘Dude, we gotta get out of here!’ </em>Wally said. <br/><em>‘we can’t let them get away!’ </em>Robin answered. <br/>Pino pulled out his own gun and fired, Robin dodged and sprung for him.<br/>He was not watching Falcone. <br/>He heard the bang before he felt the bullet. The pain took a second to recognise in his head, but when it did it was a fiery punch to his side. <br/>“Rob!” Wally yelled, before going after Falcone who had turned tail. <br/>Pino landed a hit as Robin hesitated, the bullet wound made his side spasm. <br/>Once it registered he was back to his A-game. He’d been shot before, and at this point it was a familiar feeling that spurred him into action. He flung himself at Pino, who had gone for one of the crates. <br/>They traded blows for a few seconds, but Pino was no match. Robin delivered a kick that had him flying back to a crate. <br/>Robin stalked after him, breath heavy. <br/>“Rob, let’s go!" Wally came back from going after Falcone.<br/>Robin wasn’t listening, he grabbed Pino by the shirt. He’d got something from the crate, probably a gun. He turned to point it at him and Robin whacked it away. As he landed a punch on Pino’s stupid face the Maroni fired up whatever it was he’d grabbed and robin barely noticed the glow of metal before he felt it punched into his side over the torn fabric of his bullet wound. <br/>And oh shit, it hurt. <br/>He jumped back with a yelp and held his side, Pino took the chance to stand, rolling his shoulder. <br/>“pretty cool, huh?” he asked, as Robin regained his bearings, “the latest.”<br/>It looked kind of like a defibrillator, but streamlined for easier use with one paddle, which had heated up white hot in seconds, rather than delivering a shock. <br/>Robin didn’t bother to look at his side, he just jumped back at Pino, avoiding the brand with every move. <br/>Wally rushed in and tugged it away, “thanks for that!” he grinned as he joined Robin by the side. Robin kicked him in the head, right on the temple, and Pino crumbled. <br/>Once there was no enemy to beat up Robin’s adrenaline started to leak out of him. His side ached and the bullet was either still in him or had shot out the other side, Robin wasn’t sure which he’d prefer. <br/>“You good?” Wally asked as Robin hunched and held his hand to his side.<br/>“fine,” he hissed, winced, scrunched up his face, “ooowwwww.”<br/>“I got you,” Wally said, picked him up again and sped off towards the ship. Robin was starting to wonder if his speedster friend was just looking for excuses to hold him. If Robin was being honest he didn’t mind, but it was frustrating to be carried back to the ship when he could have walked. <br/>He sat down in his seat. Aqualad was filling Batman in on the situation. He told them to head to the mountain and that he’d clean up their mess. Robin could hear the anger in his voice and he knew they were in for it when Batman got to the mountain to debrief them. <br/>“are you good Robin?” M’gann asked. <br/>“I’m fine,” he said, clenching his jaw. Could people stop asking him that question? The answer <em>wasn’t going to change.</em> “is everyone else okay?”<br/>“Artemis got shot, too,” Superboy said. <br/>Artemis gave Robin a smile and thumbs up from her seat, which she was leaning heavily in, she said with a mild laugh “bullet buddies.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They got to the mountain, Canary was already there. Artemis got patched up and then Canary turned to robin. <br/>“where’s the bullet?”<br/>Robin pointed to his side, just under his ribcage, and Canary said, “shirt off.”<br/>He took the armoured overshirt off and then pulled the black undershirt up to his chest, Canary winced and muttered a “yikes,” as she analysed the brand and the bullet wound. <br/>“holy shit,” Artemis, hyped on painkillers said, “that looks like <em>shit.</em>”<br/>Robin snorted and grinned back, “it looks cool though.”<br/>That it did. It still hurt but his dose of drugs was ebbing away at the pain pretty quick. The brand had hurt where his shirt was but where the fabric had been cut by the bullet it had managed to properly burn skin. There was a round puncture where the bullet had sunk in and stayed in, and around it in jagged blood covered black-skin was a brand. It would definitely be one of his more unique scars. <br/>Canary awkwardly took the bullet out, being as careful as possible to not irritate the brand. She staunched the bleeding, made sure there was nothing left inside then stitched it together. She applied something to the injury then bandaged it up. <br/>“how are you guys?” Megan asked as she poked her head in.<br/>“peachy,” Artemis said. <br/>“feeling the aster,” Robin grinned. He’d gotten to beat up a Maroni and now he had morphine in him, he was doing great. <br/>Wally zipped in, “wow dude, that’s <em>whack.</em>” He said as he eyed the bandages, “cool scar?”<br/>“hell yeah,” Robin said, giving Wally a high five. <br/>“that is certainly one way of looking at it,” Aqualad said. <br/>“so what happened up there on the mezzanine?” Conner asked. <br/>“uh…” Robin began, but the drugs were making his brain woozy. <br/>“Robin gave us all away,” Artemis said, held her arm out for a fist bump, “pretty asterous.”<br/>Robin accepted the fist-bump and Kaldur stood between their two beds to make sure she didn’t roll off trying to give someone a high five. <br/>“no fair!” Robin said, “I got caught on rust!”<br/>“you didn’t see it?” Wally asked, “that doesn’t sound like you.”<br/>“what, so I’m supposed to know everything?” Robin muttered as he crossed his arms. <br/>“it was my fault,” Megan said, “I lifted him off the mezzanine when he told me not to, and it caused the noise.”<br/>Aqualad sighed, “well at least we all got out without too much trouble.”<br/>“yeah,” Robin said, “and Arty and I got to do drugs.”<br/>“wooo!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>A Debrief That Goes Horribly Wrong</strong>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Once Batman was done cleaning up the mess and fixing everything he headed to Mount Justice. By then Artemis and Robin had come down from the hard drugs and just been put on something to ease the pain but not space them out too much. Even still, they had the debrief in the med room, so Artemis and Robin didn’t have to leave the beds and risk pulling the stitches while they were still fresh.<br/>Batman loomed, merely stated “report,” and waited for an explanation. <br/>“our presence was given away and we had no choice but to engage in defence. We incapacitated Falcone, his buyer and their men before back up could be called in.”<br/>“I also managed to identify the buyer as Pino Maroni,” Robin said, and Batman gave him a look. <br/><em>‘did that have anything to do with your cover being blown?’ </em>His demeanour asked, in that all-too-rumoured language the others liked to call <em>bat-talk.</em><br/><em>‘no. I’ll tell you later.’</em> Robin answered. <br/>Wally also shot Robin a worried look. Robin gave him a small smile in answer. <br/>“this was a simple mission.” Batman levelled a disappointed stare on all of them, “I expect a thorough report of the night explaining why and how your cover was blown and how you will do better in future.”<br/>Batman looked to Canary, she gave him a nod and Batman said, “Robin, come with me.”<br/>Robin gave his team a mock salute and marched off with his mentor to the zeta tubes. <br/>Once they appeared in the cave and Robin sat down at one of the chairs by the desk Batman turned to him. <br/>“explain yourself.”<br/>Robin frowned as he turned to him, “explain myself? It was an accident.”<br/>“you should know better.”<br/>Robin’s face turned incredulous, “I didn’t notice the mezzanine was rusted so it creaked-“<br/>“and you alerted them?”<br/>“no, I stopped and assessed the situation I’m not an <em>idiot</em>,” Robin said, “Megan thought she could float me away and I told her not to, she tried it and the shift in weight made the whole thing creak.”<br/>“so you’re blaming your mistake on M’gann.”<br/>“you asked me to explain, so I did!”<br/>“I asked you to explain, which requires taking responsibility for your actions,” Batman said, “you should have noticed the rust of the platform and taken it into account.”<br/>“and that was my mistake, I can take the blame for that,” Robin rolled his eyes, “but it was a <em>mistake</em>, I didn’t do anything on purpose, and I wasn’t the only one at fault.”<br/>Batman let a small glare take over his face, he knew there wasn’t much point putting too much energy into glaring, that stopped working on Robin a long time ago. <br/>“and you identified the buyer as Pino Maroni.”<br/>“yes.” Robin held Batman’s stare. <br/>“and did that have anything to do with your <em>mistake</em>?”<br/>Robin had no qualms levelling his own glare on Batman, sometimes it worked just as well as his mentor’s would, but it was rather hit or miss. <br/>“<em>no</em>, it didn’t.”<br/>“Aqualad told me you seemed determined to attack Pino Maroni once the skirmish began.”<br/>“because he was running around with a branding iron, <em>which he attacked me with by the way!</em>”<br/>“I am aware,” Batman said, as emotionlessly as Red Tornado, “but you were distracted by him. You let your personal life interrupt your ability do the job.”<br/>“it wasn’t my fault,” Robin said, “what’s your problem? It was an accident!”<br/>“I don’t think it was, you were distracted and you let your emotions get in the way.”<br/>“that’s not what happened.” Robin threw his hands in the air. <br/>“that what happened?”<br/>“I told you it was a mistake!”<br/>“and I don’t believe you.”<br/>“are you not listening to me?!” Robin yelled, “just because you’re too stony and robotic to experience emotion doesn’t mean everyone else’s mistakes are because of our humanity! It was an accident and it won’t happen again!”<br/>“no, it won’t.” Batman turned to the computer, “because you’re off the team and you’ll no longer be going out on patrols till you can prove your emotions won’t be getting in the way.”<br/>“What?!” Robin shrieked, “You can’t just bench me for one accident.”<br/>“it’s not one accident, you’ve proven yourself to be unable to work past your personal issues while in the field before. It makes you a danger to the team and yourself.”<br/>“and patrols? What, am I endangering you?!”<br/>“yes, you are a hindrance in the field for as long as you are <em>distracted</em>.” Batman turned from the screen, “leave your uniform in the cave and go upstairs. You have school tomorrow.”<br/>Robin’s jaw almost dropped, “you can’t just fire me and tell me to fuck off! This is ridiculous! I have the most experience and skill on that damn team, you’ve said it yourself!” <br/>“which means you should be above on-mission distractions like this,” Batman said, “cool off. This conversation is finished.”<br/>“No it’s fucking not!”<br/>“yes! It is!” batman yelled, “and if you don’t go upstairs now you’ll be grounded on top of being taken off the field!”<br/>Robin glared at his mentor, fists clenched at his side. He knew this was unfair, everything about this was unfair. And he knew Batman was being unreasonable. This was why he didn’t want to be him. Gotham’s Knight had no room for compromise or empathy.<br/>Robin took a deep breath, stood straight and raised his chin, “<em>fine</em>.” <br/>He turned on his heel and marched off to get out of his uniform. <br/>If Batman wanted his distractions gone then he’d get <em>rid of them. </em></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Mob Bust</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Dick has set himself the goal of destroying his distractions. He has no idea how accurate that term is to what may happen.<br/>And, thing would be so much better if Wally didn't show up.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>The Mob Bust</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>A Newsflash</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>He paced in his room, trying to develop a plan. It would help if he was able to stop mumbling under his breath “stupid fucking idiot and his stupid dumb face and his stupid cowl and his stupid inability to emote and his stupid dumb batman-ness.” Which interrupted any thorough planning pretty frequently. Every now and then he’d stop planning and just start thinking of all the things he could have said in the argument then kick himself for getting <em>distracted by his emotions.</em><br/>Fine, maybe he was distracted. Maybe he had a grudge. Maybe he was <em>reasonably upset and should be given room to work with his issues.</em><br/>But no, whatever. According to his legal guardian it was time for some repression.<br/>He had a better idea. <br/>What better way to deal with his distraction than to illuminate it. if he could find a way to prove Zucco should be thrown in a cell for the rest of his life then he’d be fine. He’d be happy. He would not be distracted. <br/>A small part of his mind said that his plan was just revenge but without murder, and that he’d turned from that idea the first time round, when he became Robin all those years ago. But the majority of his brain said, ‘get that old bag of bones in a jail and throw away the key!’<br/>He figured he would just have to raid one of their bases, find the evidence, lure the police there, leave the evidence in obvious places and then let them take the credit. Bam, no involvement from Batman and Robin.<br/>Which meant he couldn’t be suited up as Robin, just in case. A problem that was less of a problem now that he was benched from the hero-ing. It did mean he’d have to loot his gear to find some basic training clothes with some armouring and gear that didn’t make it obvious he worked with Batman.<br/>The next problem was finding one of their bases. He heard Pino talking about some reunion party, maybe he could follow that lead. But Zucco would be there, and Robin wasn’t sure he’d be able to hold himself back from attacking him.<br/>And the final problem was doing it all without Batman finding out. <br/>Dick heard Alfred shuffling past and realised he’d probably have to turn his light out, else he gain suspicion. He flicked the lights and sat on his windowsill, his laptop balanced on his knees. He was far enough away for the light to not be noticeable from under the door. And if someone walked in he could say he was studying, he usually did that on the windowsill anyway, it was high up and had a good breeze. <br/>He rifled through all his sources. His laptop wasn’t your standard device and it had all kinds of modifications and programs that he’d done himself. It was no bat-computer, but it was a portable knock off that he’d perfected and personalised down to the last Megabyte. <br/>At some point he nodded off and woke up to the chilly mist seeping in through his window as the sky started lightening. He closed the laptop and started to get ready for the day, a plan already slowly setting itself up in his mind.<br/>He saw Bruce only for a total five seconds, when he’d grabbed his food from the kitchen and then put the empty plate back. Selina watched on warily, glancing between her husband and Dick. <br/>As he brushed his teeth he heard something come on the news. He rushed through it and ran out to his room where he’d left the TV on as white noise. He turned the volume up as he eyed the headline. <br/><em>‘Gotham bank attacked; suspected Maroni influence rising in the streets.’</em><br/>The newsman rambled, he revealed that overnight an attack had occurred in Gotham. it was suspected that the Maroni’s were responsible.<br/>The buy with the Falcone’s had been a cover up, purely to draw Batman and Robin away from the CBD, so the Maroni’s could launch an attack without drawing attention. <br/>The attack had been done during the same time frame, on an armoured vehicle transporting funds from a secure location to the Gotham Bank, just down the road from the court house. It had been done so quickly that back up wasn’t called in, the transport didn’t show up at the bank so they started a search. The vehicle wasn’t found till early morning, empty except for the dead officers, left at the landfill to be processed in the morning.<br/>Robin stared at the screen.<br/>His mind couldn’t help but blame it on Zucco. Maybe there was no real connection, maybe there was. Either way his head took it and ran with it.<br/>He had to run out, head to school. The whole way he planned, thinking of all the connections and possibilities. <br/>He told Alfred he’d be at Barbara’s that afternoon to study and that Jim had said he could stay the night. He had a second bag with him, but it didn’t hold pyjamas, instead his equipment. <br/>He waved Alfred goodbye at the gate to Gotham Academy and walked in like there was nothing different. He got a few looks from people who heard about the case, but otherwise he was as low profile as usual. People had stopped caring about him being Bruce Wayne’s ward a while ago, now he was just the kid who was really good at maths and probably jumped off roofs for fun.<br/>Carrying an extra bag wasn’t uncommon either. He stayed at Barbara’s often. This time, before she could see him, he hid the bag in his secret spot in the roof of the building with all the lockers. He told Barbara that, if anyone asked, he was at her place. That wasn’t uncommon either, he often needed cover-ups for big hero nights. And Barbara knew, so she had no problem backing up the lie. <br/>And then he waited, the whole day spent thinking. </p><p> </p><p>Wally had gone home after the mission as well, or rather to his Uncle Barry’s house. <br/>His room was still mainly empty thanks to it having previously been a guest bedroom, but his alarm clock was sitting on a full cardboard box of clothes, and not long after it went off his phone joined in with a text from Artemis asking if he’d heard from Robin. <br/>He had not. He scrolled through his phone to make sure his friend hadn’t texted him. He had not. Wally was starting to get worried, and he wasn’t sure why. <br/>He rushed through his morning routine, eyeing his phone every few seconds waiting for Dick to text him. <br/>He was just about to head out the door when he heard the news on the tv. <br/><em>“… The vehicle was found this morning, evidence at the scene suggests involvement of the Maroni crime family, but the Gotham City Police Department have not come forward with support of this theory.”</em><br/>Wally eyed the Central City journalist who gave the report, waiting for them to yell <em>‘sike!’</em> because surely this was too ridiculous of a coincidence to be real. <br/>And Wally knew exactly what Dick would say, a coincidence is a correlation in sheep’s clothing.<br/>“Wally, you’re gonna be late!” Iris called out from upstairs. <br/>“I’m going!” he said farewell to his aunt and uncle then ran out the door. He had to get a hold of Dick and check up on him. At least he wouldn’t do anything rash, not during the day. But after school Wally would be heading to Gotham immediately. </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>The Investigation</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Dick was feeling underdressed. After years of going out as Robin with all the gear and the armouring, doing the same thing but in noticeably less equipment gave him anxiety.<br/>Even still, he was going through with this. <br/>He looked like a junkie, with his hood pushed as far over his face as possible, but he honestly couldn’t find it in him to care. <br/>He explored the warehouse after school, then the place the vehicle had been found. Evidence had been scrubbed thanks to Batman’s and the police’s efforts, but Dick could glean some of what happened. The vehicle had been towed, which suggested a tyre had been destroyed, slashed or shot maybe, which lead Dick to believe the attack occurred while the vehicle was in motion. It must have been run off the road. There weren’t a lot of places between the vehicle’s leaving point and its destination that would be preferable for attacking a moving armoured van. <br/>There was one place Dick could think of, and it made more sense the more he thought about it. <br/>An armoured vehicle transporting money would want to take a less driven path. Considering the time and the locations, there was a route to the bank that went over a very old bridge that had fallen out of common use thanks to a bigger and better one being built not far away, with less detours required to get to it. <br/>And there, right in the tracks of the van left by the cops who’d towed it away, was all the evidence he needed to change locations. <br/>Granite. </p><p> </p><p>The old Cobb Bridge was built probably nigh on a hundred years ago. It was made of granite primarily and many other things, but all the trappings and extra filigree was engraved and sculpted granite. And at one look Dick could see that the majority of the crumbling and eroding parts of the bridge was the same mineral he’d found in the van’s tracks. <br/>It didn’t get travelled often, it was lower over the water than the Wycliffe bridge which had been built more recently. Dick could see it, not far off, plenty of cars zipping across it even at this hour.<br/>Thanks to the low traffic of Cobb Bridge it hadn’t been revamped, and the road was very much falling apart at the seams. Mud was on the side of the bridge the van would have come from, and the tracks were still apparent over the structure.<br/>And where the bridge met the main part of Gotham, where the road would continue on into the city and to the bank, was a mess of mud and rock. The van had been attacked and run off the road. Considering there was a decent hillside from the current highway and down to the bridge, Maroni’s men had probably hidden above and shot from vantage points. <br/>He searched through the bushes looking for some form of clue. He found shoe prints and the odd, scattered bullet shell, but otherwise nothing. <br/>He sighed, he may as well analyse what he had. The shells at first look seemed to be your standard rifle, he found one or two that could have belonged to pistols. The shoe prints were… strange. They seemed to be from water shoes, they didn’t have a tread just lots of points and lines that were usually on the bottom of mud and bouldering shoes. Why would you wear those to a shooting? <br/>Unless you’d be heading to a wet area.<br/>The Falcone’s had shown up at the buy in a boat that wasn’t theirs. seeing as they seemed more buddy-buddy with the Maroni’s than one would expect, was it impossible to believe the boat had been supplied by the Maroni’s?<br/>Which gave Dick an idea as to where their base may be, or at least where they must have stashed the boat before the buy and where, it seemed, the money had been hidden as well. </p><p> </p><p>Wally had zipped by the manor and been told Dick was at Barbara’s. he knew that was a lie immediately, for no reason other than his hunch told him it was.<br/>So he suited up and decided it was time to make chase through the streets. He texted Dick several times, called him a few as well. He wouldn’t answer. Wally figured he’d go to the warehouse and then to where the vehicle had been found by the police. He checked and was met with emptiness. <br/>And a vent that had been left uncovered. Dick had been there.<br/>So Wally tried some detective work of his own, but he was nowhere near as good as his friend. And then he remembered the thing he had over Batman. Dick never stopped running apps on his phone, he just left them queued up till his battery started getting low. Wally had been surprised seeing as he was the tech guy, but now it was beneficial. <br/>Wally opened up Snapchat, and he found Dick on the map. </p><p> </p><p>The docks were wet and stank like fish, but they were nothing like the bayside in South Gotham by Hinkley Creek. They called it a bayside, but that was an aggrandization. Really it was a bunch of huge storage blocks and a few warehouses with the odd house sitting smack in the middle of a flood zone. <br/>But hey, at least the kids could swim in the creek full of crap that was either freezing or disgusting depending on the weather.<br/>But Dick could deal with it, because at the door to a warehouse, sneaking in, he saw Pino Maroni.<br/>He found a side entrance- also known as a window on the second floor with a tree nearby- and slipped into the building. He took out the guy that was in the room with ease, not making a sound. <br/>He was in a small kitchen, probably a break room when the warehouse had been a legitimate business, now it likely stored weed brownies. <br/>Dick would have to take this carefully. He needed proof that the Maroni’s were linked to Zucco, and it needed to seem organic. Seeing as Batman had been proven to be useless and his code a sham.<br/>Dick crept out into the hall, making sure no one was walking down it first. There was a bathroom down the end and an opening to the main building to his left. He stood by the opening of the hallway and leaned out a little, looking to see what he was dealing with. <br/>The easiest job of his life, it turned out. <br/>Below there were shelves and storage units normally found in warehouses, a large open area for trucks or other vehicles to come in on the far side of the building. The hallway opened onto a stairway down into the shelves below him. Over by the open are there was a counter where men chatted and another room, the door closed. An office. <br/>And chatting with Salvatore Maroni, the son of the Maroni Crime Family’s big bad boss, was Tony Zucco. <br/>Dick’s blood boiled at the sight. He’d done minimal research, detective work and thinking, yet he’d managed to find this place and get visual proof. The police were hopeless. And either Batman was also incapable or he’d decided he didn’t care enough to investigate. Dick knew which one it was. <br/>He looked up to the rafters and realised they’d be pretty easy to manoeuvre through. And, extra amazing, they were decently new, which meant no rusting, no creaking and <em>no mistakes. </em><br/>He parkoured his way up and settled onto a beam. He needed to get to the office, that’s where all the proof would be. The documents in there would definitely give him some proof. All considered they’d probably provided Zucco with his lawyer, surely he’d find those documents in there. <br/>First he had to get over to the office, though, and the door was being passively guarded.<br/>There didn’t seem to be another way into the office other than the door. A distraction it was then. <br/>Dick crept back to the floor and into the kitchen. He looked over the guy he’d knocked out and found a gun, but more importantly three small explosives. Nothing crazy, probably with only a bit more gunpowder than what was in Robin’s flashbangs. <br/>Either way, it would do. He crept out the window and to the front of the warehouse, where a few men stood guard- he recognised one from a patrol with Batman not long ago, his name was Eddie Skeevers. He considered how to pull this off, but after a few seconds realised he didn’t really have the time or energy for anything fancy. <br/>He tripped the explosives and threw them out to where the men stood, they went off and the guards went into a frenzy, before they could go crazy about sounding the alarm Dick forced a deeper voice and yelled “Damnit Skeever! I told you to be careful with those fucking things!”<br/>If they thought too much about it, they’d realise it wasn’t one of them who said it, but Dick knew they weren’t likely to think much.<br/>“I didn’t-“<br/>“Come on Skeever!” another guard said, “can’t you keep your hands from you bombs for two seconds?”<br/>The guards laughed but soon were joined by men from inside the warehouse. Dick took that as his cue to head back through the window.<br/>Once he was back in he could see how his handiwork had payed off. The goons’ attention had been drawn and Salvatore and Zucco were marching over to investigate.<br/>Dick crept over to the office and clambered down to the ground, slipped into the room with no trouble. <br/>He had forgotten to think about what would happen if there was someone inside. <br/>“What are you doing in here?” someone asked and Dick turned. The office was basic, a desk with a computer faced the door and behind was a shelf full of documents and other miscellaneous crap. In the seat at the desk sat a man Dick immediately recognised. <br/>Carmine Maroni. The head of the whole damn crime family. <br/>“uh…” Dick began. Carmine started to stand, face slowly getting darker. <br/>“who the hell are you?” he asked. <br/>Dick tried to grab hold of a thought, but all that seemed to be running through his mind was ‘DANGER’. <br/>“start talking boy,” Carmine grunted, he took a gun from the desk, already loaded, “explain yourself.”<br/>Dick finally got hold of a thought; he had some gear on him, not all but some, and one thing right by his hand was a smoke bomb. <br/>He dropped it and ducked. <br/>He wasn’t wearing a mask, he was just as blind as Carmine, but at least he knew how to fight in these conditions. <br/>He heard Carmine come round his desk, and he came behind him and whacked the gun away from his hand. Carmine turned and back-handed him right across the face. Dick crumbled against the desk behind him, his stitches pulled and the wound in his side opened up again.<br/>“fuuuuuuck,” he said and managed to dodge another blow from Carmine. He swept over to the door and flicked the lock.<br/>“you little shit!” he thundered, throwing more punches. <br/>Dick twisted and jumped out of the way, looking for an opening. Eventually he found one and he sprung, landing a kick right in Carmine’s side. While he was distracted Dick grabbed hold of something on the desk, not caring what it was. He whacked Carmine over the head with it, and his skull made a dull thunk.<br/>Carmine wobbled, lost his balance and started to fall. Dick kicked him in the gut and Carmine toppled, unconscious. <br/>Dick wasn’t panting, but he was getting close. The smoke had started dissipating, but it didn’t really have anywhere to go. It hung in the room as Dick went to the computer and searched it, looking for anything of use. <br/>He hadn’t found anything when there was a knock on the door. Someone asked, “you alright, boss?”<br/>Dick stared at the door, eyes wide. His hood had fallen down and his hair was drifting in front of his eyes.<br/>“boss?” <br/>Ooooohhhh shit.<br/>Dick doubted the fake lowered voice thing would work again, but he tried it anyway, “All good!”<br/>There was silence, then, “are you sure?”<br/>“yeah.”<br/>Silence. After a bit Dick breathed a sigh of relief. <br/>He turned to the documents behind him. He’d likely have more chance finding something there, instead of going through the mess of documents on Maroni’s computer. <br/>He rifled through, searching, looking, going through everything. <br/>And as he moved a box he came across a picture. Maroni and his kids, the whole family. Plus a few of their most trusted personnel.<br/>Right next to Salvatore Maroni stood Tony Zucco. <br/>Dick grinned, grabbed the photo and turned.<br/>There was a bang and the wood of the door went flying, the lock with it. it burst open and a man stood in the doorway, towering. <br/>He looked at Carmine, then at Dick, and said, “who the fuck are you?!”<br/>Dick dropped the picture  and looked around the room. <br/>“shit.”<br/>The man charged and Dick sprung out of the way. In the moment that he looked between Carmine and the new enemy he decided one thing; no holding back. <br/>He fought like Robin. His head said to hell with it, no one would connect the dots anyway. He moved faster than the grunt, never stayed still, and he took him down.<br/>He tucked the photo underneath a stapler on the desk, the cops would have to be blind to miss it. he turned and found people looking at the door.<br/>Great. <br/>Dick ran out, knowing there was no other escape. <br/>“who’s first?” he grinned, taking the thing tucked all the way in his jumper out. A pair of escrima sticks, tingling in his hands and waiting to be used. <br/>Several men ran at him, guns ready.<br/>He did not hold back. He flung himself from one person to the next. jumping and flipping. He remembered every move Batman had told him would permanently maim, could cause death, should not be done on patrol. He used them all.<br/>And something in him sung, that need to get revenge that he’d had since he was eight exploded back to the forefront. <br/>Eventually he turned, and he found only one person left, standing far off and expecting the goons to have taken him down. <br/>Tony Zucco laughed and clapped, slowly. The sound echoed.<br/>He took his cane and stalked forward, shaking his head as he smiled. <br/>“you know, I always knew here was something about you boy,” he said, “so very glad to be reacquainted with the great Boy Wonder.”<br/>Dick’s breath was ragged, his chest heaved with every exhale. Even still, he levelled a glare on Zucco that could kill. <br/>“so, what are you going to do now, little Grayson?” Zucco asked, “cuff me? Drag me to the police department? Explain yourself? Have you truly thought this through?”<br/>Dick’s glare didn’t soften, it magnified as he started marching to Zucco, who laughed the whole time. <br/>Dick grabbed him by the shirt, “you killed my parents, I don’t care what your damn lawyer says.”<br/>“yes, yes, we both know the truth,” Zucco grinned, “but I don’t think this is going to go the way you think.”<br/>Dick grit his teeth, “fuck you.”<br/>He threw Zucco to the ground. <br/>“now, now, let’s be reasonable,” Zucco said, as he began to stand.<br/>Dick kicked him in the chest. <br/>Zucco stumbled back, and his eyes turned murderous.<br/>“well then,” he said, “I can always say you started it.”<br/>Zucco took his own gun, and he fired with no care as to where he hit.<br/>Dick jumped, swerved, rolled out of the way. He tried to get close but with every step forward Zucco retreated back towards the office. Dick dropped his escrima sticks, leaving his hands free. <br/>Zucco stumbled in the doorway and ran inside for cover. This time Dick was aware of the threat, and this time he planned accordingly. <br/>He grabbed a hand trolley and pushed it in, Zucco shot at it and while he was turned away Dick ran in and kicked him down. <br/>Zucco turned and shot and Dick ducked, he grabbed for the gun and Zucco struggled, Dick kicked his shin and Zucco’s hand spasmed, Dick threw the gun and aimed a punch at Zucco. Zucco grabbed the trolley and launched it at Dick and he jumped back, sprawled on the ground. <br/>“I’m old, but I’m not hopeless,” Zucco grunted, “now where did that gun go?”<br/>Dick looked up, eyes trailing to the door, and he found Carmine’s discarded gun. <br/>He didn’t think about it, didn’t hesitate. <br/>He took it, he turned and he fired. </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>The Consequences of One’s Decisions</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Wally found himself at a warehouse on the side of a creek in south Gotham. <br/>There were gunshots coming from inside, and he hurried in to find a crowd of unconscious men. Dick’s escrima sticks were discarded on the ground. <br/>He saw movement inside the room at the end and he ran over, stopped to take stock and decide what to do. <br/>Dick was on the ground, Zucco was standing and grumbling as he looked around. <br/>And Wally saw it at the same time as Dick. A gun just a reach away. Wally stopped to think, Dick didn’t.<br/>He turned, he fired, and Zucco toppled. <br/>Wally stood in the doorway, eyes wide as he glanced between Dick and Zucco and back again. Dick sat with the gun still outstretched, panting. He was bleeding out of his side, probably the prior night’s wound reopened, and his lip was busted.<br/>Dick started to stand, wincing and holding his side. Wally stared at him.<br/>“what.”<br/>Dick turned, eyes meeting Wally’s.<br/>“the fuck.”<br/>Dick glanced to the gun in his hand. <br/>“did you do.”</p><p> </p><p>Dick really wished Wally wasn’t there. <br/>If he wasn’t then this could be a secret. Dick could cover it up, it’d be hard but he’d manage. Wally, bless his heart, couldn’t keep a secret to save his life. He’d spill this in seconds. And as soon as the team found out he was done, no one would want him as a hero after this. <br/>And he couldn’t help but think that he didn’t want to be a hero after this either. He’d lost faith in batman’s methods, and the rest of the heroes weren’t better. No matter how much work they put into these cities, nothing changed. The system they’d created didn’t work. <br/>But he hadn’t come to a decision yet, hadn’t had a chance to. He didn’t want to explain himself to Wally right now. <br/>“Dick…” Wally said, staring at everything in the room, “dude, what… what the hell-“<br/>“it’s not what it looks like,” Dick tried, cause that’s what everyone said <br/>“It looks like you just shot him!” Wally paced into the room. <br/>Dick dropped the gun, it felt like a brand in his hand. <br/>“it… I…” Dick looked between the gun at his feet and Zucco, “I just… I didn’t think-“<br/>“didn’t think? Wally asked, frowned as he turned to his friend, “Dude, what’s wrong with you?”<br/>“oh, wow, gee thanks,” Dick scowled. <br/>“you know that’s not what I meant,” Wally rushed to cover up, he could feel this conversation slipping between his fingers, “but, you just didn’t think? What the hell man, you always think things through! That’s what you’re always telling me off for not doing!” Wally said, “and you’ve been distracted-“<br/>“I am not distracted!” Dick shouted. <br/>Wally jumped, “whatever, but this,” he gestured to the warehouse around them, “is telling me there’s something fucking wrong!”<br/>“I-“<br/>“don’t tell me your fucking fine, what the hell is going on?”<br/>“look-“<br/>“we can figure this out just-“<br/>“Wally will you shut up and let me talk!” Dick yelled, “I just wanted to prove Zucco was involved with the Maroni’s! I just wanted to get him thrown back in jail!”<br/>“okay!” Wally started, “so you talk to Batman and you <em>investigate</em>, you don’t storm a fucking warehouse and expect things to go over smoothly!”<br/>“I wasn’t storming it!” Dick said, “I snuck in! someone caught me and I had to defend myself!”<br/>“oh, so it’s like the mission all over again, then?” Wally asked, “cause it’s never your fault.”<br/>“that’s not what I’m saying.”<br/>“then what are you saying?” Wally asked, “because I’m trying to figure that out myself.”<br/>“I didn’t mean to shoot him,” Robin scowled, “and I was only going to get evidence and leave it for the police to find. This was an <em>accident</em>.”<br/>“yeah, you seem to be making a lot of those recently,” Wally grumbled, and before Dick could cut in said, “why didn’t you talk to Batman? you could have been killed!”<br/>“because he tried to fire me!” Dick said. <br/>“oh, I’m sorry, I’d have known that if you <em>answered your damn phone</em>.”<br/>“Oh, I’m so sorry for not constantly being worried about you,” Dick said, “look, I love you Wally but I’m not gonna come at your beck and call.”<br/>“that is so not the point here!” Wally yelled, “you just killed a guy!”<br/>“it was self-defence!”<br/>“he’s older than my grandpa, what kind of threat-“<br/>“he was waving a gun around two seconds ago, I acted on instinct.”<br/>“oh, so your instinct is to kill people, now?”<br/>“are you <em>trying</em> to make me the bad guy?!”<br/>“no I’m trying to understand what in the hell happened in your head that made you think any of this was a good idea!” Wally said, “fine, Batman fired you, but you could have come to me! To the team! Or-“<br/>“that’s the thing Wally,” Dick scowled, deciding he’d say exactly what he was thinking, “you. The team. Hell, the whole damn league. It doesn’t work. Haven’t you noticed?” Dick threw his hands in the air, “nothing we do works! we never actually take down the bad guys, we never really get them put in jail, we just draw it out longer.”<br/>Wally stared at him, “do you have any idea what you sound like right now?”<br/>Dick clenched his fists, “I am well aware.”<br/>Wally shook his head, ran his hands through his hair, “okay,” he sighed, “okay, we can fix this. We can go to Batman and we can fix this.”<br/>“So Batman can tell me I’m grounded for the rest of my life? I think not!” Dick crossed his arms, “besides, he’ll tell the league, and if the league knows I’m done for. They won’t want me around after this.”<br/>Wally swallowed, “it’s one mistake, it’ll be fine, we’ll figure it out.”<br/>“and if we do?” Dick laughed, “face it Wally, the code, heroes, what we do, it’s pointless.”<br/>“what are you talking about?” Wally asked, “we save hundreds of people. How is that pointless?”<br/>“yeah, we save people, only for them to be put in danger again.” Dick looked at his friend, “face it, protecting the whole country is a fool’s errand.”<br/>“I mean, yeah,” Wally said, “but if I can save one person then I will, even if I can’t save everyone.”<br/>Dick laughed though his nose, “Wally…” he shook his head, “I can’t. I can’t go back, I can’t cover this up and pretend it didn’t happen. I can’t come back. Not when I know that everything the league stands for is a sham.”<br/>Wally frowned, staring at his friend, “no,” he said, “stay. Please.”<br/>Because he knew if Dick was no longer Robin there’d be no more hang outs at the cave. There’d be no after-mission sleep overs. Maybe they could keep a friendship going, but it was hard enough before the team, when they’d only been able to hang out in uniform.<br/>“why, what point is there to it?”<br/>Wally fumbled, trying to find a reason that Dick hadn’t already combatted, “I don’t want you to leave.”<br/>Dick stared at Wally.<br/>“Dick…” there was one thing Wally needed to say, had to say, if Dick was going to leave. If he didn’t tell him he’d never forgive himself. But it wasn’t exactly easy to say. <br/>“what?”<br/>“I…” Wally didn’t know how to say this without making it seem like a bribe.<br/>Dick’s face fell, his shoulders drooped as he stuffed his hands in his pockets, “Wally, I get it, you’re still faithful I guess. Just head home, I’ll text you some time. It’s fine.”<br/>“no, I…” Wally cleared his throat and took a deep breath, “Dick, I… I’ve… I never told you that I…”<br/>Dick blinked, “what?” this time he seemed less annoyed and more confused. <br/>“Dick, I… really like you.” Wally’s voice hitched and it felt like it was cracking all over again, “like, you know.” He cleared his throat, “really. A lot. In a romantic way.”<br/>Dick blinked, his jaw dropped, “you do?”<br/>“yeah.”<br/>“really?”<br/>“really.” Wally’s voice squeaked. <br/>They stared at each other. <br/>Wally’s face heated up, “but, like, it’s okay if you don’t, I uh, I just, wanted to tell you, cause, you know, uh-“<br/>“I like you too.”<br/>“you… do?” Wally asked. <br/>“yeah,” Dick smiled, “yeah.”<br/>They stared at each other, and for a moment Wally thought that Dick would decide ‘to hell with it all’ and stay. But… <br/>“but that doesn’t change things,” Dick said after a while, “I’m sorry.”<br/>“why can’t it?” Wally asked, “why can’t you stay? Maybe you can’t save everyone, maybe there’s some battles you can’t win, but surely the small amount you can do is worth it?”<br/>“Wally, it’s not that we don’t do much. It’s that everything we do is a step backwards.” He gave his friend a look he hoped communicated what he was getting at, “the bad guys get out and they hurt more people. the super-secret villain leagues keep messing with things, using every move we make to their advantage. There’s got to be some other way, but the league doesn’t know it.”<br/>“so you’ll go find out what it is yourself?” Wally asked, the hysteria starting to creep back in. <br/>“it’s better than sitting round here waiting for the answer to fall into my lap.” Dick took his hands from his pockets, trying to find something to say. He didn’t want to cut Wally from his life, “you could…” he cleared his throat, “come with me?”<br/>Wally stared at him, “dude, I… can’t. I really… can’t.”<br/>“yeah, of course not,” Dick said, and he couldn’t help but think of how typical it was. He’d continuously picked something other than what he wanted his whole life. It was Batman over closure with his parents, Robin over living a normal life, study over sleep, the team over his independence as a hero, and so many more. The list was as long as his arm in truth.<br/>And if all the good choices required him putting himself second, why would the script change if someone else was making the decision?<br/>No, of course Wally wouldn’t choose him over Kid Flash, wouldn’t choose him over his pristine morals. <br/>Of course. <br/>Batman had chosen his code over Dick and now expected his ward to choose Robin over emotional stability. There was no one choosing him. <br/>So maybe it was time for him to choose himself, even if everyone would call him selfish for it. <br/>“of course, you wouldn’t want to come with me, you’ve got Barry and Artemis, you’ve got it all,” Dick said, voice flattening out like a dead heart line, the emotion was gone and with it went the highs and lows. <br/>“Dick, that’s not what I meant,” Wally said, and his voice was still filled with emotion, not sad but insulted. <br/>Because of course he was the one to feel insulted in this instance, Dick was never able to have his opinions hurt. It was always someone else. He had to be the stone. <br/>Well, not this time. And this time he’d let everyone else have a piece of what he was dealing with.<br/>“it’s probably for the best, anyway,” Dick scowled, wanting to have an effect, if Wally got to hurt him then he got to hurt Wally, “you’d just slow me down anyway.”<br/>“what?” Wally’s voice cracked, “excuse me?”<br/>“face it Wally, you’d just get in my way,” Dick said, “I’m better off without you.”<br/>Wally’s face fell and then turned red, “right, yeah, cause you’re really just that much better than everyone.”<br/>Dick scoffed, “I’m beginning to think that much, yeah.”<br/>“well it’s not like you haven’t been a hindrance either,” Wally said, “you’ve got no powers, you’re always running off or getting yourself into problems, all you’ve done is hold this team back!”<br/>He regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth. But Dick gave him no time to back track.<br/>“WELL FINE THEN!” Dick yelled, “If I’m such a fucking hindrance to everyone around me then you’ll be happy I’m gone!”<br/>And he dropped his last smoke bomb and disappeared.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Uprooting</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Dick knows well enough that he wants to leave, he's just not sure exactly where to. He stops for a chat with an old friend to remedy this, but it unfortunately isn't the kind of chat that includes tea and biscuits.<br/>Meanwhile, at Mount Justice, Wally is struggling with realising he just called his crush useless.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Uprooting</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>An Old Family Friend</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Dick figured he’d run off for a bit, have a look around the country. Zeta tubes made that easy, and Bruce probably wouldn’t care enough to track him down. He wasn’t an absent guardian, per se, but he did give Dick a very long rope. <br/>He’d come back if he wanted, probably not though. Dick honestly wasn’t sure. He just wanted to move, roam around, he missed the days of living in a circus when you weren’t in a city for more than a month. And by moving around maybe he could figure out what it was he disliked about the justice league at this point. It was probably the high-and-mighty attitude.<br/>He packed a bag, stuffed it really. Before anyone could come by his room he was gone. He changed into casual clothes, but kept a knife in a sheath under his jumper. It wasn’t great adventure attire.<br/>Either way, there was one person he knew would have a good idea as to where he could go, and Dick was lucky enough that he was in town. <br/>Haley’s circus still managed to look like a childhood dream, even when the tents were empty and equipment was still strewn about. No one was in the middle of working, it was still a bit early, but Dick could hear someone making a racket in a nearby tent, likely starting to cook breakfast.<br/>Dick pulled his hood down and made his way to the train compartment he knew Haley would be in- working away at paperwork. He hopped onto the connection between the two trailers and knocked on the door.<br/>As it opened Haley was speaking, voice tired, “Jimmy, I know I said I’d get those papers to you yesterday, but something’s-“<br/>Haley froze, eyes meeting Dick’s.<br/>“hi,” Dick said, stuffed his hands in his pockets, “I, uh,” he cleared his throat, “hi.”<br/>Haley leaned out the door to see if anyone was there, then met Dick’s eyes again, “hi.”<br/>He lead him inside, “uh, take a seat, I…” Haley fumbled for words, “what are you doing here?”<br/>Dick blinked, “well, I… had a bit of a falling out, I’m just laying low. I saw you were in town.”<br/>Haley smiled, “ah, it’s good to see you kid,” he said, “but you really shouldn’t be here.”<br/>Dick’s heart fell, “what?”<br/>Haley sighed, sat down on the chair on the other side of the desk, he gave Dick a sad look, “my boy, there is a history to your family that you do not know- and by being here now that history puts you in danger.”<br/>Dick blinked, “Haley, if there’s some kind of mob troubles or… whatever-“<br/>“no, no Dick,” Haley sighed, “you were never supposed have a life.”<br/>Dick blinked, “I’m sorry, what?”<br/>Haley leaned over to a drawer in his desk, he pulled it out and rifled through it as he said, “when you were young you were chosen by very… dangerous people. When your parents passed they had claim to you, I messed around with some things and made sure it didn’t happen.”<br/>“I’m sorry, what?” Dick scoffed, “Haley, what are you on about?”<br/>“have you heard of the Court of Owls?”<br/>Dick laughed, “the old wives tale? The crazy people who used to run Gotham?” Dick smiled, “you mean like <em>beware the court of owls, that watches</em>-“<br/>Haley jumped across the desk and covered his mouth before he could continue, “Speak not a whispered word!”<br/>Dick burst out laughing, “Pop, have you been drinking again?”<br/>“no, and I am disappointed you would think such of me!” Haley said, leaning back in his chair, “the court is real. They fell out of their old power a while ago, but they still… lurk.”<br/>Dick raised an eyebrow.<br/>“there was a prophecy, that a new Talon would be chosen and they would lead the court back into glory- their Gray Son.”<br/>Well now Dick knew there was definitely something off, because this sounded <em>extremely</em> made up.<br/>“Haley, I’m sorry, but I think you need some sleep.”<br/>“Dick, I need you to take this seriously,” Haley said, showing Dick a picture he’d retrieved from his drawer, “your mother was a young thief, the best I’d ever had the pleasure of meeting. But she had no last name, so she stole the title as her own after her father revealed the prophecy to her. Your father couldn’t go by his own name. Your parents never realised who had contacted them till you were older,” Haley said, and Dick finally looked closer at the picture, “but you’re father figured it out.”<br/>The picture was of his parents, in his mother’s arms was an infant, in his father’s was a full-faced mask. Dick analysed his father’s clothing, armoured and strange, but he recognised it. it was what was worn in the League of Assassins. <br/>“your pops knew some… dangerous people. And when they found out about the court’s claim on you they were furious. What was left of the court was wiped out.” Haley explained, “your parents were about to change their names, they didn’t want any connection to the court, but…” Haley trailed off, “well, you know.”<br/>Dick snatched the picture from Haley’s hands and stared at it, so close to his face that his eyelashes almost brushed the faded glossy surface.<br/>“this can’t be real.”<br/>“it is, my boy, and it’s why you shouldn’t be here,” Haley said, “the court was pulled apart, piece by piece. But I wouldn’t risk it, their talons were immortal and deadly.”<br/>Dick stared at Haley, he had come here for help and possibly an idea as to where to go next, he was not expecting everything to be made even more complicated than before. <br/>“why didn’t you tell me this?”<br/>“because you were a boy, I didn’t want your memory of your parents to be tainted by their pasts,” Haley said, “and when I saw you, last year, you’d seemed happy.”<br/>“this is my family, Jack!” he said, fingers pinching the corner of the picture, “my history!”<br/>As much as he’d been separated from the people that could have connected him to his culture and taught him the virtues held close by the people before him, he was still proudly a Romano man, and a part of that pride was his love of family. He was, if he was being honest, scared of the idea that he’d never truly been close enough to that family. <br/>“Dick,” Haley sighed, “I’m sorry. I should have told you. That was my mistake, but please,” his face etched itself with worry, “don’t investigate this. Don’t go looking into it. it’s too much of a risk.”<br/>Dick looked at the photo, his mother holding his infant self, smiling and happy. His father dressed like some kind of warrior of old. He wanted to figure out how to make a real difference, sure. But he also wanted to figure out who in the hell he really was. he’d thought he was Robin, that that was the most important part of him. Without that he needed to find something new. <br/>He did not want to be a Talon, he felt no pity at the idea the old cult had crumbled. But this was his history, his heritage. The only reason people learned history was so it could inform the future. <br/>“Dick.” Haley drew his attention once more, “promise me you won’t go digging into this.”<br/>Dick looked at the picture once more, put it in his pockets. <br/>“I don’t make promises I can’t keep.”<br/>He turned and left. </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>A Train to Destiny</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>So when investigating an ancient super powerful assassin cult, where does one start?<br/>Dick had been given all he needed to know thanks to Haley, and that was because of the picture he still had on him. <br/>He held it up, the morning sun starting to creep closer to the horizon and tinting the picture. He recognised where the image was taken. <br/>The old Wayne Railroad station, which was now a historical site. It was built by Alan Wayne, Bruce’s Great-Great-Grandfather, who had also pretty much built Gotham in general. The building itself came under the Alan Wayne Trust, as far as the public knew it was maintained by the trust as a piece of Gotham’s history. <br/>Maybe there was more to it.<br/>The picture was of his parents and his infant self, there was nothing that proved it specifically had anything to do with the court. But it was a lead, and Dick didn’t know why his parents would be at a Gotham Railroad Station when he was a newborn. <br/>The place was closed, it was only open for tours from 10 till 4, Mondays through to Thursday, according to a sign on the door. Dick scaled up to the second floor, forced a window open and snuck in.<br/>No one was around so Dick didn’t bother being sneaky, but he kept the hood over his face and made sure not to touch anything. There were probably cameras around and he didn’t need the mess of breaking and entering charges. Technically, Bruce owned this building so Dick was fine. But one could never be too careful. <br/>He didn’t really know what he was looking for, he figured the court probably had their base of operations under ground. If it was above ground there’d be more work in keeping it secret. <br/>So Dick headed to where the covered train stops were. When the station had been running there were only three lines, hence three trains and three platforms. There was a high arching roof that protected the platforms, then it was wide open to the fenced in railing. It was only then Dick realised he could’ve just jumped a fence instead of crawling through a window; the drama and thrill of breaking in made it worth it.<br/>Dick sat on the edge of the platform with a sigh, dumping his bag next to him. <br/>Sitting there on the eerie edge of Gotham that was still close enough to the city to hear it but too far to be urban felt like stepping out of reality. As Dick exhaled everything around him seemed to slow. The world around him was losing speed, coming back to normal and settling. <br/>The court case, the mission, being fired, the warehouse, speaking to Haley, it all happened so quick. It had barely been four days, they’d all passed in a blur. <br/>Really, what did he think he was doing? Going off on adventures and sticking it to the man. <br/>What was he doing? He didn’t even know. <br/>Should he double back? Crawl into the Batcave and ask for forgiveness? Hell no. maybe he’d apologise to Wally, but Bruce? No. <br/>Hell no. <br/>But then where was he going?<br/>He really didn’t know. <br/>He gazed down between his feet at the dusty gravel below. He wondered if this was how his grandparents would’ve felt, on the crux of traveling to the next place. Train stations must have become their bread and butter, they’d probably been to all of them. Would they be disappointed to see their descendant sitting on the edge of travelling and hesitating? standing where they would have stood and thinking of the terror of not having a solid home to come to.<br/>He sighed, leaned back, and gazed at the roof.<br/>There was a bird sitting on the beams, ruffling its feathers, and staring down at him. Dick stood, eyes rolling. <br/>“what, are you my spirit guide or something?” he asked, dropped his hand son his hips, the bird didn’t move. “what?” <br/>The word echoed and the bird startled, swooping down over his head, and flying off down the hall. it cawed and the sound echoed, a strange archaic sound that met his ears and brought the hair on the back of his neck to a stand.<br/>Dick frowned, and he followed the bird. His bag left on the platform. He turned down several hallways and came to the office, the bird had come through the ticket window. It sat on the back of the chair and stared at Dick expectantly. <br/>“what?” <br/>Dick sighed. <br/>“great, now I’m talking to a bird,” he scoffed, “brilliant.”<br/>He stepped further into the room and kicked something, jumped at the noise. It was a floor tile, it had come loose.<br/>He followed where it had scattered to, and picked it up, staring at the small office, trying to figure out what felt odd about this place. <br/>It was probably the very fancy desk with all kind of buttons. Probably used to control the tracks and trains back in the day, but… wouldn’t that be in a different room? not an office?<br/>He drifted his hands over the controls, reading the markers and trying to make sense of them. <br/>One said entrance. He had worked with Batman to know that nothing was a coincidence- at least, nothing in Gotham.<br/>‘to hell with it,’ he decided, and he flicked the switch. <br/>The bird shrieked and Dick shot around to look at it, it swooped over him again, grabbing his hood. He stumbled and flung his arms about with a yelp and gained balance again, tripping to a stop.<br/>And right where the tile had met the wall, it now met dusty stone. His toes edged over the seam of tile and rock, and he looked up into a hole, the wall gone, replaced with a tunnel that was dark and cold. <br/>The bird grabbed his sleeve and tried to guide him in, Dick pulled back, staring wide eyed at the tunnel before him. <br/>“holy shit,” he whispered, and even that tiny sound bounced across the uneven edges of the tunnel in front of him.<br/>Dick needed a torch. He didn’t have one in his bag, so he took out his phone and turned on the light. He waved it round the edges of the tunnel, looking for some kind of death symbol or waiting for a monster to jump out, trying to find anything that would give him reason to stop looking right now and go back to the platform. <br/>He found no reason.<br/>He took one step in. the bird seemed to settle slightly and fluttered to the floor by his feet. Dick’s breath shuddered in and out.<br/>This was it, this had to be it. <br/>This was the way to find out about himself, about his family.<br/>He took another step. <br/>The bird hooted and Dick finally decided to take notice of the breed. A Horned Owl, rather small for its breed. Dick looked between it and the darkness. <br/>“you coming with?”<br/>The owl hooted. <br/>Dick held out his arm, readying for the talons that the bird definitely had. It fluttered up and sat on his bicep, claws finding just the right spot to not hurt too much or hit any dangerous spots.<br/>Dick took a deep breath and stared at the dark tunnel.<br/>“let’s do this.”</p><p> </p><p>Dick’s phone light was very quickly sapping his battery, he watched it lower, not being able to stop himself from smirking and thinking ‘nice’ when it hit 69%. The owl snuggled into his hair a few times, but mainly seemed comfortable sitting on his arm and making quiet sounds every now and then. <br/>It was getting colder every second, and the ground was on a mild slope. His eyes wouldn’t stop glancing around, imagining sounds where there were none. He didn’t know how long he’d been walking, but he’d lost sight of the opening behind him a while ago, thanks to the organic twists and turns of the tunnel. <br/>The owl’s talons felt… like a claim almost. It had taken its spot there and it felt almost like it would never leave. Something about it terrified him, down in the same place that had been scared when Haley had explained the court’s decision to take him. <br/>It was a kind of fear he hadn’t felt in a while. The kind that made his stomach twist and his shoulders shake and his breath hitch.<br/>His chest felt tight<br/>But he kept going, kept walking. Something in him <em>needed</em> to know about this part of himself. Without Robin, without his family, without his life as he’d come to know it, he had nothing. No guidance, no help, no support. <br/>His history could show him the way. He did not want to be a talon, never would. But maybe there was something, anything, that could show him who he was.<br/>He just wished he’d find it faster. <br/>The tunnel kept going, further down, further down. The slope was becoming steeper.<br/>He glanced to his phone, lit the screen up to check the battery once more. <br/>27%, and it was 9:30. His stomach grumbled. He’d be in school by now normally, Wally would be right now. <br/>He didn’t have his bag, he had no food or water. If it hit 12:30 he was doubling back. <br/>He turned the phone off again, taking a deep breath as he kept walking. The ground kept sloping. <br/>And sloping. <br/>And sloping. <br/>The owl screeched and Dick flinched. It took off, swooping around and screeching. Dick stumbled, the ground was still sloping, the bird clawed onto his jacket, feathers flapping against his face and screeching in his ears, he was still tripping over himself, the ground still sloping. The owl swooped, claws scratching across his shoulders through the jacket. <br/>And he tripped, and the ground sloped, and he fell.<br/>His phone scattered, the screen shattering. He tumbled across the ground and…<br/>His hands grabbed for something, he slipped across the rocks and…<br/>The ground dropped out beneath him.<br/>He was falling, the light was gone, the owl was gone, everything was gone and he was falling.<br/>Falling, falling, falling. Darkness at the edge of his vision and cold seeping into his heart and falling, falling, falling into nothing and emptiness. <br/>Nothing. Nothing but dark.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Gossip</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Wally showed up at the mountain grumpy. <br/>That was to be expected when you professed your love from someone and it ended with the two of you calling each other useless. <br/>He’d gotten home and just slammed his head into the wall several times, then Barry had asked if he wanted dinner. He was going to go back to the head slamming afterwards, but Iris told him no.<br/>So he woke up, went to school, and then headed for the mountain. Which wasn’t a good idea, because it reminded him of the fact that Dick was now gone, with no explanation, and everyone probably figured he’d have seen him last. Seeing as they were best buddies or whatever. <br/>Not anymore, apparently. <br/>So when he walked in and met eyes with Artemis across the room everything in him deflated. He was not in the mood to deal with her teasing and sarcasm. <br/>“oh hey Wally,” Megan greeted him, “I made cookies! Want some?”<br/>Wally sighed but decided he’d keep up appearances, taking a few and leaning over the back of the couch where Conner was watching static. <br/>“hey, where’s Robin?” Artemis asked, “he disappeared with Batman, he good?”<br/>Wally shrugged with a barely hidden scowl, “I don’t know.”<br/>“well you two are always so buddy-buddy,” Artemis said, picking up on Wally’s foul mood, “I just wanted to check in about my injured team mate,” she grumbled. <br/>“yeah, well,” Wally huffed, “myeh.”<br/>Artemis and Megan gave him confused looks, even Conner frowned at him.<br/>“’myeh’?” Megan said, “I’m sorry I don’t know that word.”<br/>“It’s not a word, Wally’s just sooking for some reason,” Artemis rolled her eyes, “what happened, did Batsy say you couldn’t come over for a play date?”<br/>“shut up,” Wally grumbled. <br/>“Wally,” Aqualad said, finally joining the team in the main room, “what has you so upset?”<br/>“Nothing,” he said, crossing his arms, “<em>Robin’s</em> the one who’s upset, <em>for no reason</em>.”<br/>“Oh no,” Artemis said with a blank face and dull tone, “what happened?”<br/>Wally threw his hands around, “he- just, he’s a- little, aarrrgh,” he groaned trying to find something to say that wasn’t ‘he killed a guy and then ran off’. <br/>“ah,” Artemis said, “enlightening.”<br/>Wally groaned, dropped his head in his hands, “I don’t know why I try.”<br/>Megan gasped, “Hello, Megan! I know what this is!” she grabbed Wally’s hand, Artemis’s hand and then started running off. <br/>“I- what?” Conner blinked. <br/>Aqualad called after them, “do you need us?”<br/>“nope!” Megan said back.<br/>She dragged Wally and Artemis to her room, pushed them in and closed and locked the door behind her. <br/>“okay, now the boys are gone,” she grinned.<br/>“but I am a-“ Wally started. <br/>“what’s going on here?” Artemis asked, looking between her two friends. <br/>Megan poked Wally’s chest and giggled, “boy troubles.”<br/>Wally blinked, “what?”<br/>Artemis’s face went slack with surprise and then turned to a knowing look, she playfully hit herself in the head, “hello, Artemis, duh!”<br/>“excuse me?” Wally said.<br/>Megan smiled, “you asked Robin out, didn’t you? Or something like that?”<br/>Wally blinked, “no?”<br/>“oh my god, he did!” Artemis laughed.<br/>“I- no! what- I didn’t,” Wally spluttered. <br/>Megan hugged him, “oh, it’s so obvious how you felt about him, and it’s so obvious you said something.”<br/>Wally froze, then deflated with a groan, “I said I like him and he said it back but now he’s gone cause I messed it all up!” <br/>Megan gasped and guided him to her bed, Artemis laughed and earned a sour look from the Martian.<br/>“okay, tell us everything, and we’ll help figure this out,” she said. <br/>“Batman tried to fire Robin so he ran off cause he was mad. I went after him and we fought and it was all a mess!” he sighed, “and now he’s running around doing who knows what and he doesn’t like me cause I said I didn’t agree with him and that he was wrong and that he’s being stupid.”<br/>Artemis and Megan shared a look, “this is gonna take work,” Artemis said, “uggghhh.”</p><p> </p><p>“so what is wrong with Wally?” Aqualad asked, looking to Conner. <br/>He frowned as he listened in, leaning against Megan’s bedroom door, “something about… boy troubles?”<br/>“what?” Aqualad said.<br/>“liking people?”<br/>Aqualad frowned, “best leave them to it, I think they know more than we do.”<br/>“definitely.”<br/>They walked back into the main room, Conner was about to settle in front of the TV and Aqualad about to grab a book when the zeta beams lit up and announced Batman’s arrival.<br/>Kaldur greeted him and Batman gave him a steely look. <br/>“where’s Robin?”<br/>Kaldur frowned, “he hasn’t been here since he left with you.”<br/>Batman didn’t falter, “where’s Kid Flash?”<br/>“talking with Megan and Artemis.”<br/>“get him out here, I need to speak with him,” Batman said. <br/>“yes sir.” Kaldur turned back down the hall, starting worry about what was going on. </p><p> </p><p>Wally was well aware that he was basically walking to his doom. <br/>Batman took one look at him and gestured to a side room, he remembered having a conversation in that very room with Canary, post-crazy mental death mission. Then it had been for therapy, this time it would be his last conversation with a person before he no longer had eyes, or a leg, he didn’t really know what Batman was most likely to attack.<br/>Batman closed and locked the door, Wally awkwardly rubbed his arm while waiting for him to start talking.<br/>“what. Happened.”<br/>Wally swallowed, “what… do you m-“<br/>“you know perfectly well what I mean.”<br/>Wally cleared his throat, “I, uh, don’t, actually.”<br/>“Where. Is. Robin.”<br/>Wally opened his mouth to answer. <br/>“spit it out.”<br/>“IF YOU LET ME SPEAK I COULD TELL YOU THAT I DON’T KNOW!” is this what Robin dealt with? No wonder he wanted to storm out. <br/>“Robin is missing,” Batman hissed, “and I am 100% sure that you know why, how and where. Now start talking.”<br/>Wally clenched his fists, staring at the ground.<br/>“you know what?” he looked Batman in the eye, “fuck you.”<br/>Batman’s glared heightened, but Wally forged on.<br/>“fuck you and your stupid high expectations and your stupid emotionless attitude and your stupid inability to accept anyone into your life,” he said, “fuck you and your stubborn attitude and fuck you for driving my friend away!” he yelled, “because it’s your fault he’s gone <em>Bruce</em>, you were supposed to help him through his shit but you’ve just thrown him under the bus and told him to take it, for years now!”<br/>Batman’s scowl was terrifying, but Wally met it with his own. <br/>“Dick is gone, and he’s gone because he lost faith in you! You want to know why? Because the most support you gave him was a pat on the back and a send-off to the next group of villains to smack down with,” Wally said. <br/>“That’s enough, West,” Batman said. <br/>“yeah, it is,” Wally hissed, “and here’s the final truth; I don’t know where Dick is. I fucked up, too. But you’ve got more to apologise for than I ever will. and here’s the kicker: you’ll probably never see him again.”<br/>Wally stormed for the door and opened it, hesitating on the last step out, “and by the way,” he looked over his shoulder, “you might want to swing by Gotham’s bayside. He left a pretty big mess.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Make and Break</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>The ground started to slope underneath him, slowly coming to level. <br/>Dick scattered across the ground, groaning. He didn’t feel like he’d broken anything, but his side was hurting again. He’d bandaged himself up after the fight at the Maroni’s warehouse, but even still it hurt. And he had a headache coming on. <br/>He sighed, pushed his hands beneath him and forced himself to his feet. <br/>It was still fucking dark. <br/>There was a shriek and Dick jumped, feathers against his face, claws on his arm, the owl was back. <br/>His breath was still shaky and his eyes wide, he was quite sure his jaw was chattering. <br/>“great to see you’re back,” he hissed to the owl, “thanks so much for pushing me down the massive fucking hole, squawker.”<br/>The bird hooted indignantly.<br/>“yeah fuck you, too.”<br/>And he was still talking to a bird. Brilliant. <br/>He looked around, trying to discern something in the dark. He shuffled around trying to see if his phone was anywhere around. He found nothing.<br/>He sighed, grumbled. <br/>“great idea Dick, follow the creepy bird into the cave with only a phone light and no sense of direction.” <br/>He held out his right hand, his left arm starting to go numb from holding the damn bird for so long. His hand touched nothing so he edged forward, not lifting his feet much in case there was something on the ground. <br/>The bird flew off and Dick almost missed the warmth. <br/>He shot forward after it, hoping it was guiding him. He could hear its wingbeats drifting through the cave, it sounded like it was a huge length of tunnels, plenty for sound to echo on but still big and scary.<br/>He could get lost. <br/>Dick drifted forwards, arms out.<br/>“where the fuck-“ he muttered.<br/>The bird grabbed onto his sleeve once more and lead him forwards, Dick stumbled, but followed. <br/>The bird dropped his hand on something, a… table? He wasn’t sure. But he ran his hand along the surface, the bird pushed his hand along and he drifted atop some kind of… something. <br/>As he touched it, it heated up, and slowly the thing became an outline of glowing gold around his palm. He pulled away and watched as the lightly glowing silhouette of a hand grew cracks, the glow spread, etching itself along the surface, to the ground, along the walls… <br/>The whole place lit up, a light glow illuminating a small antechamber, with caves dotting the walls.<br/>The bird trilled and Dick looked at it in shock. <br/>“okay, I’ll admit,” he said, “pretty cool.”<br/>The bird hooted, and Dick must have been going insane because it sounded proud. <br/>“Okay Squawker,” he said, holding out his arm, the bird settled on his bicep, “show me the way.”<br/>He started forwards, Squawker flapped and guided his arm towards a cave in the side of the antechamber. Dick followed, and the gold cracks soon became uniform. Lines and crosses, like the grit of tile. The stone became ceramics, rocks and gravel spilling over shining white tiles. <br/>His steps sped up, a change in architecture seemed like a good sign.<br/>The bird preened on his arm as Dick walked the hallway, till he came to a cross roads. <br/>“Oh, great, it’s a maze isn’t it?” he said, “I <em>hate</em> mazes.”<br/>The bird flew off down the left path and Dick followed. Squawker landed at the end, gave an impatient hoot and ruffled its wings. <br/>Dick jogged to catch up, once he was by Squawker’s side it flew off again down another path.<br/>Dick sighed, “is there an actual destination you’re taking me to or is it just constant maze?” <br/>The bird shrieked indignantly. <br/>“fine, I’m coming, geez.”<br/>And, yes, it was a maze. Twisting a turning and never ending. He wished he had his phone so he could check the time. <br/>And then he finally got to the place the bird seemed to be taking him. The hall widened into a room, giant, and smack in the centre was a fountain, grimy and dry and made of white stone, rising from the middle was a dark owl statue, giant and menacing. <br/>The owl flew up onto the statue, preening itself from the beak of the giant statue. Dick stared up at it. <br/>“well, I guess this counts as proof,” he mumbled, “now what?”<br/>Finding information was easy, usually, when you had a computer or a box of papers, or something. This was pretty useless. <br/>But… he could hear something. <br/>Water? No. maybe? He walked down one of the other halls that met with the chamber, finding a huge room, mezzanines and rafters and stalagmites. Along the walls were coffins, below were vats of green and gold liquid, machinery and technology all over the place, left lying around. <br/>Dick crept up to a coffin, gazing into a window in the lid of it. he could see a person in there.<br/>Did they all have… dead people in them? <br/>He walked among the aisles of coffins, and he found that no, the majority didn’t have people in them. It seemed the Talon’s numbers had dwindled before they were frozen in time. Small, engraved metal was screwed into the front under the windows, what looked like names inscribed in them. Squawker fluttered up to a railing and cooed. <br/>“look, you don’t know me, but uh… I’m trying to find something. Proof. Apparently…” he didn’t want to say it, really didn’t, “apparently… I think was chosen to be one of these…” he looked to the coffin behind him, the person lifeless inside, “things.”<br/>Squawker hooted, grabbed his sleeve again and flew off, Dick followed. <br/>The bird sat on a coffin, Dick leaned in to look at the name. William Cobb. <br/>A hunch told him Squawker wanted him to set the corpse free. That’s not what Dick was here for. Set one Talon free, they were sure to release others and possibly attempt to rebuild the court. <br/>Dick looked to the bird, “yeah, that’s not happening.”<br/>Squawker shrieked.<br/>“fuck you too.”<br/>Dick turned to the cavern behind him, the mezzanines and twisting platforms and the scary green slightly glowing vats of liquid below. <br/>On the ground, where the vats became towering behemoths, were computers, desks, hospital gurneys? Equipment and tools and all manner of things he couldn’t make out from so high up. <br/>“better idea,” he said to his bird guide and started climbing down.<br/>He was right, there were beds of some kind, with tools and bags of liquids on roller-things and vitals-checking machines. <br/>But more importantly, there were computer stations. Old as heck but still… useable. Maybe.<br/>If anyone could make them work it’d be him.<br/>His hands were flying over keys, flicking switches. He found out quickly all the broken components of the many systems. One computer’s chords were tangled, one had a corroded motherboard, the connections to a monitor had been severed here, cobwebs had overrun the hardware there. He ran about, salvaging what he could, fixing other things.<br/>Eventually he got… something that could be excused as a computer. As long as it had access to whatever mainframe or system these stupid owls had set up then he was happy. <br/>And oh boy, things were looking up.<br/>The software was dated, the equipment not at all intuitive and everything took forever to load. But he could hack it, he could do it. <br/>He found his way through the old records, almost forgetting what he was looking for. The celebration of finally making headway with this investigation was uplifting enough to mask the fear of what he’d find. <br/>But he found it. among files and files of old history, recorded and organised. The details of the court’s chosen Talons. And he saw it, clear as day and with long lists of information, his name. Richard John Grayson.<br/>Labelled as their Gray Son. Chosen to herald in the future of the court. <br/>His hands froze on the keyboard, heart stopping, eyes fixated on his name on the screen. <br/>And oh my god it was true. <br/>“no,” the word came out as a breath, “no, no, no, no, no, this can’t be right, I couldn’t have been- I wasn’t- this can’t be true.”<br/>Squawker settled on the screen, Dick looked up to it, “this can’t be real.”<br/>What was he expecting? That he’d show up and find no proof? Oh well, it just be like that sometimes, let’s continue my blissfully ignorant life.<br/>No, of course this was true, all of it, every word. <br/>But how? But why? But when? But who?<br/>His legs felt shaky, he was quite sure he could collapse. He backed away from the screen and sat, drawing his knees to his chest.<br/>This was impossible, he was a good guy. <br/>A hero who’d, at the first chance, shot an unarmed man in the head. <br/><em>“oh, so your instinct is to kill people, now?”</em><br/>How ironic Wally’s words seemed now. <br/>The bird called, Dick’s eyes shot to it. <br/><em>“hurry up,”</em> it seemed to say, <em>“get over yourself, depressive episodes are boring.”</em><br/>Dick forced a breath in, grit his teeth and stood up. He stared at his name on the screen. <br/>“Fine,” he grumbled, “you want destiny? I’ll give you destiny.”<br/>He stormed over to the stairs and ran, climbing up to the top, sliding to a stop in front of William Cobb’s coffin, breath panting out of him. <br/>He’d seen something in his file, he hadn’t been looking close, but it said that this <em>bastard</em> was supposed to train him when he’d been indoctrinated. Maybe he could give him some answers, or at least a reason to believe-<br/>To believe that this cult wasn’t his future, that he was someone else, that this was all something that had been thrust on him and not something he was bred for. <br/>He grabbed the lid and pulled at the lock, the ancient and rusting metal cracked and crumbled, the lid flew off and clanged against the wall behind it. cold air spewed out, turning the air white.<br/>A growl, dark and deadly, slithered out of the mist. Dick stepped back, eyes blowing wide. <br/>“oh shit.”<br/>What did he just do?<br/>He backed up, hitting the railing, from the mist stepped a shadow. <br/>Dick froze. Something in him told him he should be running and not looking back. Most of his brain was just chanting ‘shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.’<br/>As Cobb finally solidified from the white fog Dick’s body caught up to his mind, he turned and bolted. <br/>And then choked, the collar of his jacket tugging around his neck as Cobb grabbed his hood and pulled him back, locking his head with his arms.<br/>Dick kicked the air, tried to grab a hold of Cobb’s arms, yelped as Cobb tightened his hold and constricted his breathing. <br/>He sputtered, trying to gasp for air, mind going into crazy mode. <br/><em>“a stranger in the court,”</em> Cobb hissed, voice guttural and disgustingly horrifying, <em>“an intruder!”</em><br/>Dick tried to form words, tried to get air in, nothing was working. <br/>“Ga- he- I-“ he flailed for purchase, trying to push away Cobb’s arms. He gave him the slightest bit of room to breathe, and Dick spluttered out, “looking for- proof,” he forced air into his lungs, “Gray… Son.”<br/>Cobb dropped him, “Gray Son,” he hissed, “why do you invoke the-“<br/>Dick turned and swung his leg, tripping Cobb over. <br/>He stood and ran before Cobb could attack. <br/>Great, so how does one survive an attack from an immortal corpse assassin? Dick did not know.<br/>Squawker swooped, claws raking across his face, a hairsbreadth away from his eyes.<br/>Dick stumbled, ducking under the bird’s blows.<br/>“traitor!” he grumbled, staring at the bird. Before he could start running again he saw Cobb in the corner of his eye, he ducked right as a punch was about to land on his head. <br/>He spun, twisting out of Cobb’s blows with well-practiced ease. Cobb was slow, and Dick saw plenty of openings to make hits, but he had no weapons and he didn’t think punching and kicking would do much.<br/>“how did you get down here, <em>boy</em>,” Cobb hissed. <br/>Dick ran from a hit, jumped, back handsprung and landed on the railing, he perched as he caught his breath. <br/>“your creepy bird brought me here, actually,” he said, dodging another hit and running along the railing. <br/>Cobb followed, “she got out of the aviary?” he glanced at his bird, “Matilda, you brought this heathen to the Talon’s Chamber?”<br/>The bird hooted. <br/>Dick blinked, dodged another blow, “Matilda?” <br/>You know, he preferred Squawker. <br/>“what are you doing here?” Cobb grunted, and Dick for a moment wondered whether he was making such animalistic sounds for effect or if he’d really just become that deranged. <br/>“I told you,” Dick dodged another hit, sprung away, “Looking for answers, proof.”<br/>“Whatever proof you have found, will die with you,” Cobb said, running for Dick again. <br/>He was glad Cobb seemed to be without a weapon, because he still managed to cause decent pain as it was. If he had a sword? Dick would a goner. <br/>After a round of hits Dick stepped back, clutching his side, he barely managed to dodge another hit, but as he did Cobb landed a kick and Dick rammed into the railing. <br/>“I don’t know why my bird brought you here,” he hissed, “but you end today.”<br/>Dick shoved air down his lungs, his diaphragm was betraying him, he was winded and scared. <br/>As Cobb’s fist approached Dick threw fear to the wind. <br/>“my name is Richard Grayson!” he confessed, screwing his eyes shut and waiting for the blow. <br/>It didn’t land. <br/>“Grayson.” Cobb’s voice was smoothed with shock, only slightly less threatening than usual. <br/>Dick sighed, leaning against the rail, “yes,” he panted, “I heard about… about the court. I needed to know for myself.”<br/>Cobb’s eyes turned speculative, he leaned forward, squinting at Dick, analysing him up and down. <br/>“you are the son of Mary and John Grayson?” he asked, seemingly not wanting an answer just yet, “my great grandson?”<br/>Dick’s heart might’ve stopped. <br/>“great…” the air rushed out of him, “great grandson?”<br/>Cobb tilted his head, staring at him, “were you not told? Did the grandmaster not explain your great lineage, your destiny?”<br/>Dick blinked, “grandmaster? Uh, dude, it’s just you.”<br/>Cobb blinked, “what?” <br/>Dick finally knew something more than someone else, he gained a degree of confidence from that.<br/>“the court is gone, reduced to ruin,” Dick said, “I found out from a family friend. But there is no grandmaster, this,” he gestured to the lines of talon-filled coffins, “is all that’s left.”<br/>Cobb stared, looking around the room. He seemed to be experiencing a mix of confusion and anger. <br/>“I just want answers.” Dick looked at him, “can you give me those?”<br/>“yes,” Cobb said. <br/>He started walking, Dick followed him with his eyes till he reached the stairs, then he started walking after him. <br/>“what are you…” he trailed off.<br/>Cobb walked all the way down to the floor, looking at the computers that had been previously abandoned. Staring at the tables and the equipment. <br/>He laid a hand on one of the hospital bed-esque stretchers, staring at a golden liquid bagged and hanging from one of the poles with wheels that Dick usually saw IV drips on. He didn’t know what they were called, he usually settled for ‘wheelie bag pole thing’.<br/>“why was I chosen?”<br/>Cobb didn’t respond. <br/>“you said you could give me answers.”<br/>“it was told the Gray Son of Gotham would bring the court to glory, reclaim our old power. Our family and ancestors have long been chosen as warriors to protect the Court.” Cobb looked over to the computers, “you were able bodied, strong, promising. We chose you and prepared you.”<br/>Dick filed the information away, trying to process it. <br/>“what happened here?” Cobb said, looking to him.<br/>“I don’t know.”<br/>Cobb walked to one of the vats, giant and towering above, he ran a hand along it, scraping off years-worth of dust. <br/>“I remember…” he whispered, “I remember an attack. I remember being put to sleep afterwards, but after that there is… nothing.”<br/>He turned to Dick.<br/>“what year is it?”<br/>“uh… 2011?” Dick said. <br/>Cobb’s hand turned to a fist, a growl slowly building. He turned and kicked away a stretcher bed, “WE HAVE BEEN VANQUISHED!”<br/>Dick started to step back, slowly retreating. Squawk- Matilda- stared at him.<br/>“WE HAVE BEEN REDUCED TO NOTHING, OUR POWER FORGOTTEN!”<br/>Cobb turned to Dick, panting and hulking. <br/>He took a deep breath, squared his shoulders.<br/>“We will fix this,” Cobb said.<br/>“Uh,” Dick blinked, “we?”<br/>“you are the Gray Son, together we will bring back our power, regrow the court anew.”<br/>Dick gulped, “look, uh, I’m not here to join a cult,” he glanced to the exit, so far away and so high up, “I was just looking for-“<br/>“answers,” Cobb cut in, ”and don’t you see, this is your destiny.”<br/>Dick shook his head.<br/>“if you will not join me willingly,” he hissed, “I have ways of making you.”<br/>Dick ran. <br/>Cobb was not elegant, he tore the computers from the desks and threw them at Dick, grabbed a wheeled table and pushed it at him. Dick only just missed it. <br/>He needed a weapon, he needed something to knock this guy out. He’d been told Talons were damn near impossible to kill, but it seemed extreme cold stopped them well enough. If he could lure Cobb into his coffin again he’d be fine…<br/>Cobb was throwing things again, this time the equipment on the tables. Syringes and scalpels and all manner of things came flying at Dick. He ducked and ran for cover, but even still a scalpel landed square in his left shoulder, thunking into his skin with a wet sound.<br/>Dick screamed, ducking behind an overturned table. <br/>“If you want me to be of any help, killing me will be a problem,” he ground out past clenched teeth. <br/>Cobb laughed, the sound archaic and wrong, “what do you think the first step to becoming a talon is boy?”<br/>There was silence and Dick looked to his sides, sneaking a peak past the table.<br/>He was toppled from behind, Cobb’s weight crashed into him and Dick was stuck. He thrashed, trying to find a way out. <br/>“be still,” Cobb ordered, and levelled a scalpel below Dick’s neck.<br/>Dick froze, mind reeling, trying to find a way out. <br/>“you were chosen when you were young, your body has already been prepared,” Cobb hissed, “now all that’s left is to die.”<br/>The scalpel sliced clean through his throat and Dick passed out immediately.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Escape and New Friends</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Well, how the hell is Dick gonna get outta this one?<br/>Also, it seems it's time for Dick to get a hold of a family tree, it'd probably be useful.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>okay so this one does get a bit graphic, during the course of the first part sub-titled 'Insubordination'. I'll be honest, I don't know if it's <em>super</em> graphic or even <em>enough</em> to be considered triggering because graphic violence doesn't trigger me personally, but I figure it's better to be safe than sorry. if depictions and descriptions of violence do make you uncomfortable or trigger anything for you, skip from the start of this chapter to the horizontal line. a description of what happens in that section will be in the notes at the end of the chapter.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932377" name="_Toc51932377"></a>Escape and New Friends</strong>
</h1>
<p> </p>
<h2>
<a id="_Toc51932378" name="_Toc51932378"></a><strong>Insubordination</strong>
</h2>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Cobb was overexaggerating slightly; he did not die.</p>
<p>He just had to get really fucking close, and then what had been put into his body so young it had become a part of him would react.</p>
<p>Talons were chosen young so the process would be easy; a tooth was replaced with an electrum-laced substitute. Over the years it would leak into the system. The body would learn to adapt to it, sometimes it even began to create it.</p>
<p>And when an extreme stress situation occurred, where the host of the electrum was a second from death, the electrum kicked in. if the body was in the hands of the court it could then be prepared correctly to undergo the stages of becoming a controlled and obedient servant. They could even manage it if the body was retrieved some-time after death.</p>
<p>So Dick did not die, rather Cobb hauled him onto one of the gurneys, linked him up to more electrum via an IV and started the process. It had many levels to it.</p>
<p>Usually the soon-to-be Talon was given either a neuro-muscular drug or some other agent that paralysed and kept them from interfering with the process. Usually anaesthesia was not supplied, and Cobb was no exception. But he had nothing to paralyse Dick with.</p>
<p>So eventually he woke up, hands flying for his throat, which burned and tingled and felt <em>wrong.</em></p>
<p>He panted, panicking. Staring at the tubes that were slowly dripping more electrum into him, but also the others that he couldn’t identify.</p>
<p>Cobb was nowhere to be seen.</p>
<p>He still had his wits about him, still owned his mind, so he couldn’t be too far gone. He slowly collected himself and forced the panic down, debating whether to tear the IV out or not.</p>
<p>He decided to test a theory.</p>
<p>He pulled it out, biting down on his bottom lip to deal with the pain. The IV came out and with it a slow but speeding up stream of dark blood. Dick clapped his hand on it, knowing if his theory proved wrong that he would bleed out in at least two minutes.</p>
<p>His arm itched and Dick grabbed a towel from a table and wiped the blood away to see the wound left behind. The blood didn’t gush out, already starting to clot and begin the healing process. It was no-where near as quick as what he’d heard the talons had, but he watched as the drip of blood went from a constant flow to small bead of red.</p>
<p>And oh god no, what had Cobb done to him?</p>
<p>He ran for the computer, hoping it wasn’t destroyed. The time on the screen didn’t seem too far off from when he’d been flicking through information, which meant he wasn’t out long. Just a few hours, maybe seven at most, no biggie.</p>
<p>His reflection seemed the same in the dark screen, although nothing much could be gleaned from a mirror image like that.</p>
<p>He shuddered a breath in and out.</p>
<p>What was he supposed to do?</p>
<p>He slipped into old practise. He checked equipment, exits, hiding places. He ran the numbers, considered the factors.</p>
<p>Once he was done, instinct number one came to mind: call Batman.</p>
<p>He didn’t have a phone and- wait, hang on, slow down. <em>Call Batman? </em>no. hell no.</p>
<p>It was just him.</p>
<p>Okay, so instinct number two: locate the threat.</p>
<p>Where was Cobb?</p>
<p>Dick looked up, eying the coffins lining the mezzanines. They were all still closed, so Cobb had not woke up his brethren. Then what was he doing?</p>
<p>Dick crept up the many stairs, eyes darting around at every sound. Cobb’s creepy bird, Matilda, was nowhere to be found. Also, who names a cool ass owl Matilda?</p>
<p>Whatever, he needed to find his creepy undead great grandfather.</p>
<p>He armed himself with a scalpel, he felt severely unprepared. He crept up the staircases, slowly making his way to the main entrance. no one jumped out of the shadows, there were no creaks, no shifts.</p>
<p>Where was Cobb?</p>
<p>Dick strafed the wall and leaned in to gaze at the fountain and owl statue in the hall.</p>
<p>Cobb was there.</p>
<p>He stood in the fountain, staring up at the owl’s face. He seemed to be muttering to himself, perhaps praying?</p>
<p>No, although Dick called it a cult, the court was not religious. Perhaps Cobb was perplexed as to how to begin his plan to recreate the court. He was a soldier, trained and brainwashed. Independent and creative thought probably wasn’t his forte, at least it definitely wasn’t a commonly stretched muscle.</p>
<p>And also, he’d been hibernating till a couple hours ago, realistically his brain was probably still a bit mushy.</p>
<p>Dick had an idea.</p>
<p>He crept away from the door till he was far enough away to not be heard by Cobb. He found an empty coffin and opened it, only a crack. He stuck his arm in, gritting his teeth against the cold.</p>
<p>The scalpel began to cool down.</p>
<p>Dick felt… tired? Worn out? The cold always used to affect him, but that was normal. This was a lot more than usual.</p>
<p>Whatever Cobb had done to start ‘the process’ likely gave him a bit of an aversion, seeing as extreme cold seemed to be what shut down these corpsified murder bastards.</p>
<p>Whatever, he could deal with a frozen left arm, as long as the rest of him was fine.</p>
<p>He took the scalpel out once his arm went numb. He kept it in his left, and snuck up on the door once more.</p>
<p>Cobb was turned away from him, not paying attention.</p>
<p>Where was the bird?</p>
<p>Dick couldn’t see her. He couldn’t just attack without knowing where she was, she’d give his location away for sure.</p>
<p>He backed away as Cobb move slightly. There were too many variables he had to check for before he could attack.</p>
<p>And the scalpel was already warming up, his arm already back to normal. He needed something better than a cold piece of metal.</p>
<p>But how…</p>
<p>A plan hit him like a train.</p>
<p>The coffins had to be kept cold somehow. Without a lot of electricity constantly flowing there weren’t a lot of options.</p>
<p>So… liquid nitrogen?</p>
<p>Dick went to Cobb’s coffin, wide open and warm.</p>
<p>There were vents in the back where cold air seemed to be pumping out. Dick leaned around the back of the coffin and forced it off the wall.</p>
<p>It was connected via tubes, the outside dripping in condensation. There was a panel in the wall and Dick found a small tool on one of the desks at the ground level to open it.</p>
<p>And, bingo, nitrogen tanks with a simple valve opening. How had they lasted so long? Surely no one had been around to replenish them in years.</p>
<p>But there were several tanks, and it looked like the tubes were connected to other systems. Maybe the lack of filled coffins allowed for enough extra nitrogen to keep the place running. For how much longer the question was, but that didn’t matter to Dick.</p>
<p>He had nitrogen tanks.</p>
<p>So how to use them?</p>
<p>Uh…</p>
<p>Dick ran down to the ground level again, looking at what he had on offer. Syringes and scalpels and other metal tools. Clothes and gloves and face masks. All manner of things…</p>
<p>He couldn’t weaponize a tank on its own, it’d be too heavy. A normal syringe couldn’t take the cold of liquid nitrogen-</p>
<p>He heard Matilda shriek.</p>
<p>She was up in the top, flapping around.</p>
<p>Dick had limited time.</p>
<p>He stumbled up the stairs, as fast as he could. Forget about noise, he didn’t have the time.</p>
<p>Cobb stumbled in and Dick jumped over the rails of the stairs onto the mezzanine that held his coffin.</p>
<p>“Awake already?” he hissed, “I underestimated you.”</p>
<p>“don’t blame yourself, happens a lot,” Dick grumbled, slowly backing up as Cobb stalked closer.</p>
<p>“funny,” Cobb growled, clearly unimpressed, “that humour will be the first thing to go.”</p>
<p>“I’ve had some thought,” Dick forced himself not to look at the coffin, he couldn’t afford drawing Cobb’s attention, not until he was-</p>
<p>Right where he was now.</p>
<p>“you know, I don’t think the uniform suits my style.”</p>
<p>Cobb grunted, his bird squawked and he glanced away. Dick took the chance.</p>
<p>He launched himself at the nitrogen tanks, Cobb not realising what he was doing till it was too late, he jumped at Dick.</p>
<p>Dick turned and pulled the valve, cold air spewed out as the liquid turned gaseous in seconds. Cobb was met with a wall of white hissing cold air.</p>
<p>Matilda shrieked and flew off, Cobb screamed and stumbled, falling back. The tank emptied quick and was much lighter without its contents, Dick hauled it into his arms and half threw half dropped it onto Cobb’s collapsed form.</p>
<p>He grabbed the scalpel he’d left on the ground and stabbed it into Cobb’s throat. Cobb tried to grab him and Dick jumped back, the scalpel stuck in Cobb’s neck.</p>
<p>Cobb couldn’t breathe, his skin turned paler and his eyes unfocused. Blood gushed out of his neck and his hands grabbed at the scalpel, trying to get a grip, but they seemed numb and clumsy.</p>
<p>Dick grabbed the second nitrogen tank and turned. Matilda swooped and he scowled, batting her out of the air with a hand.</p>
<p>“nice try, not gonna work this time,” he said as the bird hit the railing, wings awkward as it landed on the ground.</p>
<p>He grabbed the valve on the tank and pulled, emptying a second onto Cobb just as he managed to pull the scalpel out.</p>
<p>Cobb tried to stand, trying to roll onto his stomach with a huff and moving his arms under him. Dick kicked his side and as Cobb was distracted, picked up the scalpel once more. He stabbed it into Cobb’s throat again, tearing as he pulled it out.</p>
<p>Dick stabbed the scalpel through his eye, pushing as far as possible.</p>
<p>Hands slick with blood, cold and dark, he dragged open the lid of the first empty coffin he saw. He hauled Cobb’s body up and shoved him into the coffin, slamming the lid before he could try and force his way out.</p>
<p>Cobb likely would die, if the cold effected the healing factor like Dick theorized. He’d bleed out and die without the electrum running through him at usual speed.</p>
<p>Dick did not care.</p>
<p>Matilda squawked and Dick set his eyes on it. he grabbed the bird and slammed it into the railing and threw the limp feathered form off the side.</p>
<p>He stared down at it all, mind disconnected from what was going on. All he could think of was the net thing on the list of things to do. The threat had been located and neutralised.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p>So next up, determine an exit route.</p>
<p>He couldn’t run out the way he’d come, there was a giant fucking drop that he’d slid down. So where else could he escape? This place was a maze, he’d get lost in seconds.</p>
<p>He couldn’t stand still, the longer he paused the more likely the adrenaline would run out and he’d collapse from exhaustion before he could get out. He needed to move before he registered everything he’d just done.</p>
<p>He strode for the owl fountain, hoping there was something there that could point him in the right direction.</p>
<p>There were marks where Matilda had clung to it, but otherwise it seemed completely normal as far as owl statues go. Dick couldn’t find any hidden compartments or small messages or arrows that guided you through the place.</p>
<p>He missed when matilda was on his side and guiding him through the place.</p>
<p>Wait…</p>
<p>Matilda. Where had she come from? Cobb mentioned an aviary, maybe there were other owls? She seemed intelligent enough, at least enough to understand her master was in need of help, therefore she should guide someone to him to set him free. Maybe there were other trained birds that could be persuaded to guide him out. Or there was some form of access to the outside from the aviary that Dick would also be able to use.</p>
<p>It was worth a shot.</p>
<p>He went and found Matilda, hoping there was some kind of collar or more likely a tag or band.</p>
<p>There was a tag on the wing, small but big enough for a symbol. A maze. Dick figured it probably wasn’t accurate, but it was his best bet. The symbol was more like an owl’s face with a maze pattern around it, and small dot on a separate spot. His guess: the owl face was the statue, the dot was the aviary. This theory relied, of course, on the idea that the court would create a guide to the owl’s aviary rather than just make sure everyone knew where it was.</p>
<p>Whatever, it was his only lead. He ripped off the tag and studied it, managing to orient himself to the maze symbol. It was small and gave him a headache to look at but he figured out how to follow it.</p>
<p>He memorized the way he took, dragging his left hand along the tile. Smudges of dark red following it until his fingertips were devoid of the liquid.</p>
<p>He eyed the dark that stretched out before him, the gold cracks in the tile grit all that illuminated the halls, and even then it was only the smallest bit of light. Just enough to look at the map, if he held the tag up to the gold glow and squinted.</p>
<p>The ground was sloping again, but this time upwards. It slowly became steeper, and his calves started burning.</p>
<p>He smelled the aviary before he saw it. water and moss and bird shit, with that distinct musky smell that came with birds. Feathers started showing up along the ground, varying sizes and shapes and colours.</p>
<p>And once he did make it there he breathed a sigh of relief.</p>
<p>It was a huge circular room, the walls lined with alcoves where birds sat. up all the way at the top of the room were several skylights. They seemed to be filtering light in from covered areas, seeing as it had to be nearly midmorning, yet the room was still largely dark. The floor was covered in feathers and bird shit, there were feeders as well and troughs where water used to be.</p>
<p>As he walked in hundreds of birds became known. Several flew out at the first sign of a human. Some shrieked and flew into other alcoves, likely bigger with more room to hide. A couple glided down to the feeding troughs and maybe ten swooped, Dick cut a wide arc with the scalpel he’d collected when he checked Matilda and the birds quickly retreated.</p>
<p>He considered, briefly, if he could climb up the alcoves and through the skylights. But there was nothing to use to get from an alcove to the holes, which were all mainly in the centre of the roof. And the birds would likely attack if he started sticking his hands and feet into their nests.</p>
<p>So plan number one, find a bird and see if he could get it to guide him out.</p>
<p>This would take a gentler hand. Birds were usually skittish around humans, especially owls. These ones likely hadn’t been trained seeing as the court hadn’t been around to do so, but there seemed to be older owls that might have been around for training.</p>
<p>If not he could cover its head and go to the fountain. The bird might guide him just by trying to leave.</p>
<p>Or he could exit through the door at the other end of the room.</p>
<p>He noticed it belatedly, just a nondescript door. No lock. He pulled it open and was met with a ladder set into a wall, he couldn’t see anything above, but he guessed there was probably some kind of hatch.</p>
<p>That was too easy, and also infuriating seeing as he’d had to fall down a giant hole when there was literally a ladder and a hatch he could’ve taken. But surely it wasn’t that simple?</p>
<p>Dick looked over his shoulder at the aviary, thinking of the journey here. He stopped himself before he could get too far, he didn’t have time for this.</p>
<p>He climbed up the ladder, trying to listen to anything above. He couldn’t make anything out, so he pulled the handle of the hatch and lifted it as small of a crack as possible.</p>
<p>He heard nothing but dripping water.</p>
<p>He pushed his head out, making sure to be prepared to hide if anyone was around. Nothing presented itself so Dick stood up, below his torso still hidden</p>
<p>It looked like a tunnel, perhaps a sewer, but there wasn’t any water rushing by.</p>
<p>There were no visible exits, no spots of light. It had to be close to the surface, but even still he didn’t know where he was going.</p>
<p>A bird flew over his head, zipping down the tunnel and disappearing.</p>
<p>So there was an exit, and the owls below probably knew of it.</p>
<p>Dick ducked down again and stared at all the birds, every step and noise sent them flying. He needed one with a decent temperament.</p>
<p>He walked along the side of the room, quiet and slow. His breathing shallow and muscles loose. It was the best he could do at looking non-threatening. If he knew how the birds were often treated by the court before it collapsed he could curtail his demeanour.</p>
<p>But oh well, this would do.</p>
<p>There was nothing left in the troughs, they were picked clean. He had no food to entice them or water. He definitely didn’t look friendly.</p>
<p>So he did the best thing he could, sat in the middle of the room and waited for a bird to present itself.</p>
<p>He breathed in, out, in again. Calmed himself. He hated the fact that he was just sitting there, not doing anything to progress, but it was his only option. With the moments of quiet everything rushed in; the cold recognition that, like it or not, he’d just killed his great grandfather, the memory of how empty he’d been when he’d grabbed that bird and slammed it against the rail without hesitation, the sick stomach he gained from thinking of just what had been done to him once he was knocked out. He felt tired and distraught and so unbelievably washed out. Not long ago he’d felt what it was to have his throat slit from one side to the other. A cool scalpel tearing through the skin and opening up his windpipe. He’d blacked out pretty quick, but the panic and the fear of being on the brink of death was…</p>
<p>He shuddered.</p>
<p>Never again.</p>
<p>His throat felt tingly and itchy and he didn’t like the slight breeze that brushed against his neck. He zipped up his hoodie and pulled the collar up so he could tuck it under his neck. He pulled his legs up to him, leaning his forehead against his knees as he forced himself to breathe.</p>
<p>Just. Breathe.</p>
<p>He could do this.</p>
<p>He had to be able to deal with this.</p>
<p>He had to be able to deal with how easy it was for him to slip into the actions, go through the motions. How easy it had been to go from Robin mere days ago to Dick Grayson, wanderer and lost boy ready to kill.</p>
<p>His arm was still bloodstained, dried flakes brushing off.</p>
<p>And oh god, no, he realised, he was good at this.</p>
<p>Because as much as his head was a mess, as much as his breath rattled, as much as his eyes unfocused and stared at the expanse of blurred nothing before him…</p>
<p>He still was alert. He still was ready. A bird settled at his feet and he knew it was there, every movement in the room filtered through his mind.</p>
<p>He uncoiled himself slowly before he even realised he was doing it.</p>
<p>The instincts that Batman had drilled into him, drilled into Robin, were still there. Except now he was just Dick Grayson, and the idea of him having any of these skills was preposterous. Imagine the magazines, Vogue, Gotham Gazelle, all the ones that regularly wrote about the world’s most famous and glamourous, writing about Dick Grayson the trained vigilante. A cover of him curled on himself in the Court’s aviary, the heading claiming ‘Gotham’s Son: Hidden Assassin? More on page 7!’</p>
<p>But whatever, priorities. His mind berated him for wallowing.</p>
<p>A bird sat before him, some far back thought said it was a spotted owl, and it stared at him with a twitchy head.</p>
<p>Dick slowly breathed out, uncoiling himself from his sitting position. He held a hand out, just barely away from his torso. The bird glanced between him and the hand, thinking.</p>
<p>It fluttered up, walking along his forearm and preening. Pushing at his hand and lightly nibbling at his arm and sleeve, the bird edged up onto his bicep, nibbled at his ear and Dick snickered. The bird nuzzled his hair a bit, climbed onto his head and seemed to consider making a nest up there, but decided to come back and grab hold of his hood, sitting half on his shoulder, half in the folds of the hood. It moved its wings slightly and cooed.</p>
<p>“I’ll think of a name for you later,” Dick mumbled, starting toward the door.</p>
<p>As he began climbing the bird seemed happy to sit, but once he opened the hatch it flew up onto the ground. Dick stood, finally completely exiting the hatch. He closed it behind him, making sure it didn’t lock.</p>
<p>“Okay, reckon you can show me the way?” he asked, staring at the bird.</p>
<p>He began walking and the bird followed after him, cosying up once again on his shoulder.</p>
<p>Just as before the tunnel seemed like a sewer, but there was no water. But was also old. He’d been in Gotham’s sewers before (a statement he’d never openly admit to most) and they were… different. He didn’t know what it was, maybe there was a difference in the architecture?</p>
<p>Whatever, the bird guided him much the same way Matilda did, albeit with a lot less squawking. There were several turns and corners and crossroads, and he knew that if it weren’t for his guide he’d be lost.</p>
<p>Eventually he came to what seemed from a distance to be a dead end, but at the side of the tunnel was a crack, uneven and jagged. The owl drifted through and Dick turned sideways to climb across, there was a platform halfway up the crack so he had to prop himself up onto the decently high step up and lean down while moving sideways. The rocks left moss and tiny gravel on his jumper, but he came out on an old, abandoned rail line, likely directly connected to the train station he’d started at.</p>
<p>The train station with all his crap. Dick sighed, how much more underground exploration did he have to go through?</p>
<p>Very little, apparently, because as he turned down the tunnel it opened up, the rail open to the sky and grass and dirt slowly overgrowing the tracks. The bird flew off, squawking as it explored the skies momentarily. It then settled back on Dick’s shoulder with a hoot.</p>
<p><em>‘okay, that was fun, nap time,” </em>it seemed to say.</p>
<p>It seemed to be early afternoon, and if the signs of city in the distance were any indication the station was probably along the rail in the direction he was going.</p>
<p>He needed his crap and he needed a place to crash for the night. He set off in what he hoped was the direction of the station.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<h2>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932379" name="_Toc51932379"></a>Down the Unbeaten Track</strong>
</h2>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>When he finally got to the station he checked the time, five in the afternoon. His stuff was still there, untouched, and the tunnel opening he’d found seemed to have automatically closed up.</p>
<p>Good.</p>
<p>When he could he’d come back and destroy the entire place.</p>
<p>For now he grabbed his stuff. He contemplated holing up in the station, but the idea of being so close to the entrance to that bird-themed rabbit hole made him shiver.</p>
<p>The last time he’d been in the news he’d been clean faced and way less ragged. Now, no one would probably recognise him.</p>
<p>he found a phone booth outside the tourist entrance, thanking every deity that it was there. He stuck some change in, called a cab and waited.</p>
<p>He didn’t want to stray, he couldn’t afford missing the cab. But owls were nocturnal, and his guide was looking distressed being awake in the sun.</p>
<p>It could fly up and sleep in the rafters, but it seemed hesitant to leave his side. Dick wondered if the court bred them to take interest in humans quickly, creating bonds fast. But any training would’ve been evolved out.</p>
<p>Although, it seemed the battle that destroyed the court happened not long before his parents death. That was only eight years ago. He didn’t know a lot about owls, especially not specifically this breed, but if he remembered correctly they had a lifespan of about eight to twelve years.</p>
<p>This one was small, which could suggest it was young, but it may just be a small breed. There was a chance it was only a second or third generation, depending on how frequently owls nested and the percentage that survived.</p>
<p>So maybe it was full of generations worth of training to be practically linked to a human. This owl seemed to want to stay by him, at least.</p>
<p>So Dick grabbed his duffel bag, opened it up and moved things around. He left it open and leaned it against the wall he was sitting against. After some curious investigating the owl sat down inside and cozied up, seeming to be going to sleep.</p>
<p>It must suck to come out into the world for probably the first time and be met with an environment you were taught was dangerous.</p>
<p>“some owl you are, huh?” Dick smiled, “flying around in the day.”</p>
<p>But what should he name him? I mean, he didn’t have to. He could just set him free and forget. But he figured the owl was probably gonna follow him around for a while, and he didn’t want to keep referring to it as ‘the owl’.</p>
<p>He was thinking maybe some kind of pun or a cool word, but he was drawing a blank. Largely because he was tired.</p>
<p>Cobb had called his owl Matilda, so the bar was low. Although if he thought about it…</p>
<p>Cobb’s name was William, like the William the Conqueror. Wasn’t the name Matilda connected to that guy?</p>
<p>Well it gave him an idea, what historical features could Dick think of that were called Richard. Other than English kings, because that was tacky, there were like six of them and Cobb had already done that.</p>
<p>He had an idea.</p>
<p>He turned to the owl, snuggled in his bag, “I’m gonna call you Isa, short for Isabel.”</p>
<p>the owl, now christened Isa, couldn’t protest. And Dick leaned back against the wall with his hood drawn over his face, the collar tucked against his neck. He didn’t want to sleep, he knew what would await him in his dreams. But he found himself dozing till the taxi came. Dick zipped his bag slowly to not startle Isa and was careful as he walked to the cab.</p>
<p>So now it was the question of where he’d go…</p>
<p>He made a split second decision.</p>
<p>“Gotham City, corner of Burton and Arundell street.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The League of Assassins main base of operations was known as Nanda Parbat, and it was hidden in a mountain range that stretched across Afghanistan and through several other countries.</p>
<p>The thing is, it’s rather difficult to get to Afghanistan when one is in Gotham without leaving some form of trace.</p>
<p>Dick did not want to leave any bread crumb trail for Batman to find. It was rather difficult to use civilian transport without leaving a trail, especially considering civilian transport came at the cost of money and required identification. The other option as the zeta tubes.</p>
<p>Which he could hack.</p>
<p>He got a coffee and something to eat at the café located on the corner of Burton and Arundell, because he was starving and it was in lower Gotham, where no one looked twice at anyone</p>
<p>Dick dumped his jumper and bought a new one- with cash- and changed into the other clothes he had on him in his bag. He found a motel to crash- also paid in cash- because he was exhausted. He snuck Isa in and she snuggled up in the drawer set next to the bed, Dick made a little nest with his clothes so his feathered companion was comfortable.</p>
<p>After his nap he went for a walk to the nearest ATM and took out as much cash as his account would allow him to in one go. He already had a bunch because he liked to keep cash on him, but if he could empty as much as possible now it’d help in the long run.</p>
<p>Bruce would freeze the account or take the money out once he realised Dick wasn’t just cooling off and wouldn’t be coming back any time soon. Or at least, Dick figured he would. He’d pulled the whole ‘fuck you I’m going my own way’ thing before, and usually he came home before Bruce could start worrying enough. And Dick wasn’t sure if he’d take money away from him, Bruce was just as likely to decide to leave it so Dick could look after himself while he searched for him.</p>
<p>Even still, one could never be too careful. And card withdrawals could be tracked.</p>
<p>He changed a good lot of the money over to Afghan Afghani, leaving some in USD. Once back at the motel he opened a new account at a different bank, transferred as much money as possible to it and then covered the transfer as well as he could without making it obvious someone had hacked a bank, which would draw attention. He had the card be sent to a safe house Bruce never went to, memorised the information in case he wanted to withdraw without a card, and wrote it on a note he stuck in his wallet anyway.</p>
<p>At about midnight he hit the zeta tubes, sitting on the fire escape of a building next to a phone booth entrance. He shut down all cameras and created a temporary identification. He travelled to the one tube in Afghanistan and then wiped the record of the transport and the temporary identification, shoved some fake records and camera footage in and called it a day. Anyone who could be bothered would be able to tell what happened, but he honestly didn’t care.</p>
<p>Next he just had to get <em>all the way to Nanda Parbat. </em></p>
<p>Great.</p>
<p>Good thing he knew Afghani- or rather Pashto. In fact, Thalia had taught him a bunch so his accent wasn’t too obvious. Tied with his darker skin tone, courtesy of his Roma heritage, and his good understanding of cultures and places, he was able to pass pretty well as a not-super-obvious-tourist.</p>
<p>Isa, finally at home in her preferred night, frolicked through the sky. Dick wasn’t worried, but he made sure to check on her periodically.</p>
<p>He scoped out the possibilities. The Hindu Kush mountain range could be accessed via tourism based travel. He could easily get busses and trains as close as possible. From there it was… a hike.</p>
<p>Brilliant.</p>
<p>He didn’t really want to call ahead (also he couldn’t) because it would give Thalia a chance to tell someone. She probably wouldn’t but he didn’t want to run the chance.</p>
<p>There were walking tracks he could take. He knew where and how to get to Nanda Parbat, seeing as he’d asked Thalia once and she’d explained it. looking back he didn’t know why she’d been willing.</p>
<p>Whatever, he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He pretended to be a tourist who liked hiking, bought himself a pack that had room for his current gear and some more. He got a hold of maps, figured out where everything was and planned the trip. He stayed in a motel for the meantime, hiding Isa with a lot of ease, somehow.</p>
<p>In fact, he’d somehow managed to switch into a nocturnal-esque sleep pattern in the three days he prepared. Isa hunted her own food at night but Dick had fallen asleep during the day and Isa had curled up in his hoodie. He’d almost died of cute-ness, so he leaned into it.</p>
<p>The nocturnal lifestyle meant the tourist group he travelled with was really small. He made sure to get a one-way ticket, so no one was looking for him, thinking he’d got lost.</p>
<p>and he set off, really hoping he had planned this out well.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>
<a id="_Toc51932380" name="_Toc51932380"></a><strong>Ambush</strong>
</h2>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dick rolled up the final part of his tent and shoved it in the hike pack. The afternoon air was chilling, the last of the sun’s warmth scurrying away with every second. Isa was just waking up, having had to scurry out of the tent when Dick started packing it up not long ago. He’d found on his first time packing up his campsite that things went smoother if he did it while the sun was still up, hence not relying on his torch.</p>
<p>He checked his water bottle, almost empty. This had to be his final night of travel. He checked his map, logic stated it would be.</p>
<p>He’d found it a great idea to hike at night the first time. He was good at orienteering, even if he had to keep a torch on hand. It also meant he didn’t have to worry about overheating quite as much, just hypothermia- a quick fix, seeing as he’d stocked up on warm overclothing and thermals.</p>
<p>He started walking again, as much as it had been easy the first night, the third was far more troublesome.</p>
<p>His legs were sore, he was tired, his back ached, yadda, yadda. At least Isa was great at hunting, she found plenty of prey. Dick had packed plenty of food, dried and preserved things that wouldn’t be good for him in the long term but were perfect for a short three day hike. Or rather, three night hike.</p>
<p>The problem was, he could not easily arm himself.</p>
<p>Half way through that night’s stretch he had been admiring the sky. Gotham almost never had visible stars, but here the dark cover of night was so full of stars that he decided to figure out how to orient himself to them. Why stare at a map when he could have this view?</p>
<p>He was passing through a small canal of rock, rising up on his sides were rock pillars. He normally would go around or above, but he figured he wasn’t close enough for any trouble.</p>
<p>He was wrong.</p>
<p>Isa shrieked and swooped, Dick immediately kicked into instinct. He turned to Isa, expecting her to make a stab at his face, finally turning against him like Matilda had.</p>
<p>She did not, she swooped down, over his shoulder, then rose up again. Dick’s eyes followed…</p>
<p>As she reached the sky again she dodged as a dark object flung itself past her.</p>
<p>An arrow.</p>
<p>This was an attack.</p>
<p>She’d been warning him.</p>
<p>Dick dumped his hike pack and ran to the side of the rock, zipping down his thick outercoat. He needed to be able to move, to defend himself. Isa swooped in, landing by his feet, claws red stained.</p>
<p>“get out of here,” he mumbled, knowing she’d hear and understand, “come back when it’s safe.”</p>
<p>He took a knife out of his jacket and scoped the place.</p>
<p>He could only see archers up the top, but there were definitely people on foot who were likely approaching. Dick didn’t wat to get stuck between a rock and his enemy, but if he left the side of the rock he’d be open to arrows.</p>
<p>And, of course, the foot soldiers arrived.</p>
<p>He fought them with ease, abandoning all the rules. He had no time for Batman’s guidelines or the moral code of heroes, he would die in this desert if he bothered with non-lethal moves. Sure he wasn’t actively trying to kill people, but if the place he stabbed happened to land on an artery he wouldn’t get hung up on it.</p>
<p>He ducked a hit from one person, landed a kick on another, tripped someone, punch another, made a swipe with his knife, back handsprung on one hand away from one hit and turned-</p>
<p>And dodged a blade last minute, an arc of steel flashing by his un-covered throat. He became very aware of the bead of blood that sat on the slight nick the blade made.</p>
<p>Non-lethal, but he froze.</p>
<p>A kick landed square in his stomach and he was shot back into an awaiting enemy, who grabbed hold of his shoulder.</p>
<p>And it rushed back.</p>
<p>A fight. right. Get over yourself Dick, time to fight before you die.</p>
<p>Something changed as his mind was dragged back to that battle with Cobb, something snapped. He felt it in his throat first, a burning pain that spread through his skin and into his soul.</p>
<p>He lingered for a second, mind racing back to itself, as another hit landed everything in him turned quiet.</p>
<p>And he <em>moved.</em></p>
<p>He dodged every attack and threw them back ten-fold. He sprung from enemy to enemy, kicked, punched, slashed.</p>
<p>Until there were so few that the archers could get a clear shot.</p>
<p>An arrow landed in his shoulder, right where Cobb had buried a scalpel. His breath shot out of him and his shoulder screamed. In his dazed shock two people grabbed him by the arms and pushed him onto his knees. The arrow still stuck out so they didn’t force him to his stomach…</p>
<p>And Dick found out why.</p>
<p>Now he was restrained he had time to notice the figure who’d stood still the whole fight, watching. They were tall, feminine figure, wearing a similar uniform to the attackers but with more… colour, trappings, symbols of status.</p>
<p>Dick was struck by how similar the uniform looked to what his father wore in the picture.</p>
<p>Whoever this was, they must have been higher up than the pecking order than the rest. She sauntered forward, sword loose in hand, and held it at Dick’s throat. He held back a shudder and the need to get the sharpened steel as far away from his neck as possible.</p>
<p><em>“who are you?”</em> they asked in Afghani.</p>
<p><em>“depends on who is asking,” </em>he answered.</p>
<p>They shared a look with the men holding him down, <em>“The Demon’s Head has no time for this.”</em></p>
<p>Demon’s Head? Dick knew exactly who that was.</p>
<p>But the sword was raised and was about to swing for his head, Dick needed to say something but-</p>
<p>The sword fell.</p>
<p>Isa attacked. She clawed at the woman’s face and the sword dropped. In the guards shock they loosened their grip and Dick lurched forward, took hold of the sword and made two clean hits to the men behind him. He turned to the woman.</p>
<p>She wasn’t fast enough to grab Isa and her second sword was sheathed. As Dick turned his attention to her, Isa flew away, going back to far enough out of reach to evade the archers who still stood atop the rocks.</p>
<p>As Dick readied said archers drew new arrows. The woman held a hand to them.</p>
<p>
  <em>“This may be interesting.”</em>
</p>
<p><em>“oh, you have no idea,” </em>Dick grinned. He was being arrogant, swords weren’t his forte, but he knew enough. Way more than the average random American teenager.</p>
<p>They clashed, and she did seem surprised at what skill he did have. But there was no way he’d win this.</p>
<p>She began a flurry of attacks and Dick stumbled back, barely managing to defend himself.</p>
<p><em>“you are skilled, trained,” </em>she said, a smile in her voice as she knocked him down, <em>“but still untried.”</em></p>
<p>“I’ve heard that one before,” Dick grumbled.</p>
<p>“You are American?” she asked, blade dangling above Dick’s chest.</p>
<p>“uh, that’s a difficult question to answer,” Dick said. He’d gotten tired of it a while ago, actually. He wasn’t American, he was Roma. His ancestry included some Italian and British if he remembered correctly, but not American. He lived in America, but all considered he couldn’t emotionally connect to the culture.</p>
<p>“what are you doing here, little avian?”</p>
<p>Dick studied the uniform, it looked too much like his father in the photograph to be a coincidence. And she had said ‘The Demon’s Head’, that was what ra’s Al Ghul was called.</p>
<p>“I’m looking for someone.”</p>
<p>“you will not find many out here,” she answered.</p>
<p>Dick glanced at the blade and then at the woman holding it, “someone I believe knew my father. Thalia Al Ghul.”</p>
<p>The sword flew away from his chest without hesitation.</p>
<p>“your father?” she asked, voice steady, “who would he be?”</p>
<p>Dick eyed the sword, still not sheathed, he decided to answer the question with another question, “Do you know Thalia Al Ghul?”</p>
<p>She cocked her head, stared at him in thought.</p>
<p>She seemed to be about to answer when a new person involved themselves in the conversation.</p>
<p>
  <em>“Alexandra?! What are you-“</em>
</p>
<p>Dick eyed the new enemy- or rather, ally. Thalia Al Ghul, as if he had summoned her.</p>
<p>“Dick?” she asked, finally taking note.</p>
<p>He gave her an awkward smile, “hi.”</p>
<p>The woman turned to Thalia, <em>“this is him?”</em></p>
<p>
  <em>“yes.”</em>
</p>
<p>“sorry, what?” Dick asked, finally standing now that the sword wasn’t pointed in his vicinity.</p>
<p>Instead of answering him, Thalia asked her own question, “what are you doing here?”</p>
<p>Dick shrugged, “it’s a long story that I’d prefer not to tell in the middle of the night.”</p>
<p>Isa swooped in, taking note of the new person and the change in atmosphere. Thalia jumped and moved to attack the bird but Dick held out a hand, letting Isa land and begin to preen.</p>
<p>Thalia looked on with raised eyebrows, “is that what I think it is?”</p>
<p>“Its’s… a bird?” Dick said, “her name’s Isabel.”</p>
<p>Thalia blinked, “it’s an owl.”</p>
<p>They shared a look. Haley had said something about his father talking to the shadows about the court, so maybe Thalia knew… about all of that. He didn’t want to say something just yet till he knew how much Thalia knew.</p>
<p>“yes,” Dick said, “I went through a lot of trouble finding her.”</p>
<p>Thalia eyed Isa, “what kind of trouble?”</p>
<p>they stared at each other, waiting till one would give up something.</p>
<p>Eventually the woman got tired of it.</p>
<p>“My Lady, could you please divulge-“</p>
<p>“you may do away with the formalities, Alex,” Thalia said, a small smile on her lips, “only family is present, after all.”</p>
<p>Alex seemed to sigh but the full face mask she wore hid any clear emotion, “what are you two on about?”</p>
<p>Thalia laughed, only slightly, “how about we take this conversation inside,” she suggested, “I will assume you came here for a visit, Dick?”</p>
<p>“more of an interrogation,” he grinned.</p>
<p>Thalia pressed her lips together and looked once more at Isa, “I will oblige.”</p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>okay so, Dick wakes up and seems to have a half-baked version of the talon's healing factor, but he's still in control of his mind. his instincts kick in and his first gut reaction is 'call batman' but he quickly decides he'd rather actually die. Dick manages to lead Cobb towards his open coffin and use the liquid nitrogen to his advantage as a way to incapacitate him. he also kills Matilda in the process.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. A Quick Start</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Wally is shaken up by all of this, too, and Dick's disappearing act is making him consider his life options. <br/>Meanwhile, Thalia explains a few things about Dick's family, specifically his father.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>incoming guys, there's a big cliche in this chapter lmao.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>
<a id="_Toc51932381" name="_Toc51932381"></a><strong>A Quick Start</strong>
</h1>
<p> </p>
<h2>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932382" name="_Toc51932382"></a>Inspired to Act</strong>
</h2>
<p> </p>
<p>Wally didn’t really know what he wanted to do.</p>
<p>He hadn’t been to the cave since Batman’s attempt at interrogating him. Megan and Artemis had texted him several times, checking in and asking what was wrong. Barry was trying to get him to talk about it, but Wally was pretty decisive that he wouldn’t talk about it. honestly? He was over it.</p>
<p>Dick had gotten to disappear and wash his hands of it, thus leaving Wally to clean up and be the soundboard of the situation.</p>
<p>To hell with it, he had decided. He wasn’t going to be Dick’s maid. <em>He </em>was the one who had decided to fuck off. <em>He </em>was the one who was dumping every moral given to him and running off to do his own thing. Wally had only seen it happen, and he wasn’t going to become the next wrung on a game of Chinese Whispers that lead to all sides misinterpreting the whole situation.</p>
<p>But as long as he was still a hero, people would be expecting answers. Or rather, as long as he was still a hero <em>collaborating with the league.</em></p>
<p>So Wally dug out an old phone number and called his last OG friend.</p>
<p>Roy probably hadn’t shaved for a few weeks, the mask covered any bags under his eyes but Wally was sure they were there.</p>
<p>“you know,” Wally said, feet dangling off the edge of the roof, “we could’ve had this conversation in a café or something?”</p>
<p>Roy chuckled, “but why take a café over a perfectly good Star City building?”</p>
<p>Wally snickered, pulled his jacket closer.</p>
<p>“so what’s the story?” Roy said.</p>
<p>Wally didn’t even know where to start. He didn’t even know how to voice what he wanted to say.</p>
<p>“how’s the solo act going?” Wally asked instead.</p>
<p>Roy blinked, raised an eyebrow, but seemed to decide to allow it, “okay. I’ve mainly been focused on finding the original Roy, which means I run into plenty of other things on the way. It’s tricky not having the league’s systems as back-up, but it just means I have to use my own gear and mind to find things.”</p>
<p>“mmm,” Wally said, sighed, “I’ve been thinking of leaving the team.”</p>
<p>Roy took a double take, “what?”</p>
<p>Wally shrugged, “it’s a long story.”</p>
<p>“well, we’ve got time.”</p>
<p>Wally pursed his lips. They let silence lapse.</p>
<p>“Dick’s gone.” He said, as if to change the topic. But Roy knew it had to be linked.</p>
<p>“gone as in cooling off from something or gone as in…”</p>
<p>“gone as in apparently he doesn’t believe in the league’s actions anymore.” Wally looked to Roy, “he’s given up on them and Batman. so now he’s <em>gone </em>as in, figuring out his own way to do what the league does.”</p>
<p>“ah,” Roy said, “and now you want to leave.”</p>
<p>“they’re not connected in that way.”</p>
<p>“sure they aren’t,” Roy said, “you’re hurt and you’re spiteful.”</p>
<p>“I’m not spiteful.”</p>
<p>“Dick got to leave and you didn’t,” Roy said, “you’re thinking of going, but unlike Dick you still hold the same morals, so leaving technically doesn’t work.”</p>
<p>Wally glared out at the skyline, “fine, that might be a bit of it. but everyone keeps annoying me about it. I just want to drop off for a bit, even if I do come back.”</p>
<p>Roy looked at him, “that is the stupidest idea ever.”</p>
<p>“excuse me?”</p>
<p>“Wally, I’m sorry to say this, but you’re being an idiot.” Roy shook his head, “you want to leave because things are hard, stressful. Once you’re on your own it’s worse. You need to think it through.”</p>
<p>“you left because you were angry!” Wally threw his hands in the air, “you cannot tell me you actually thought about it.”</p>
<p>“I was programmed,” Roy held a finger up, “and I was legally an adult.”</p>
<p>“I will be in like two months,” Wally groaned.</p>
<p>“besides the point.”</p>
<p>“then why’d you bring it up.”</p>
<p>Roy groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Look, Wally, point is, you need to think about this more. You’ve always been impulsive-“</p>
<p>“urgh,” Wally rolled his eyes, “it’s always the impulsive talk.”</p>
<p>“it’s true and you know it,” Roy said, “you’re better than you were when we were kids, but you’re still impulsive. You run into the first plan that make sense. You need to consider more angles.”</p>
<p>Wally grit his teeth, “fine then, oh great sensei master, what do you think I should do?”</p>
<p>Roy crossed his arms, “talk to Barry. Maybe go out on your own a few nights and see how it goes. Just don’t go running off without a plan.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Wally did not make any promises, but he tried Roy’s suggestion of going out on his own one night.</p>
<p>And, oh boy, did he realise he had no freedom on patrols with Barry.</p>
<p>He went wherever he wanted, picked all the fights he wanted, ran all over the place.</p>
<p>He crashed on his bed sometime around three a.m. and woke up to his seven o’clock alarm. He went through his usual day and went out at night on his own again. And again.</p>
<p>It was therapeutic.</p>
<p>Until he ran into Barry on his way home.</p>
<p>He climbed through his window- way more gracefully than the first time- and was met with a pair of slipper-covered feet in his immediate vision. He looked up to find his uncle, arms crossed.</p>
<p>Wally stood and have his uncle an awkward smile, “hey?”</p>
<p>“where have you been?”</p>
<p>“uh,” Wally rubbed at his neck, “you know… around?”</p>
<p>“in your uniform?”</p>
<p>Okay, uniform was a stretch. It was bright red and yellow, it was a <em>costume.</em></p>
<p>“yeah?”</p>
<p>Barry sighed and dropped his shoulders, turned to the door. He didn’t have to tell Wally to follow.</p>
<p>He dragged his feet into the kitchen and turned on the coffee pot, took down two mugs and put two sugars in each.</p>
<p>Wally stood against the opposite counter, and when Barry was done he turned to his nephew.</p>
<p>“Wally,” Barry sighed, “I’ve got nothing against you going out on your own, I’d just like to know.”</p>
<p>Wally shrugged, “kinda removes the point.”</p>
<p>“which would be?”</p>
<p>Wally crossed his arms, looking away.</p>
<p>In the silence the coffee pot finished boiling and Barry left it a bit longer to steep.</p>
<p>“I’m eighteen in a couple months.”</p>
<p>“I know.”</p>
<p>Wally glanced at the window, “what was the point of the league letting us have a team?”</p>
<p>Barry frowned, “you guys wanted one, we saw nothing wrong with letting it happen.”</p>
<p>“yeah,” Wally said, “and it helped stop us annoying you all about eventually joining the league.”</p>
<p>Barry sighed, “is that what this is about?”</p>
<p>“we’re sick of just being a recon team. We’re sick of never actually helping. We’re sick of fighting tooth and nail for respect. Some of us have been in this for years. Heck, Dick has spent almost half his life involved in this.”</p>
<p>“is this about Dick disappearing?”</p>
<p>“It’s about the fact that we’re not kids anymore!” Wally forced himself to relax. Iris was probably still asleep, he didn’t want to wake her, “Kaldur is eighteen, I will be soon. We want to have our own lives, start to be in control of what we’re doing in those uniforms instead of just running around at the league’s whim.”</p>
<p>“so you run out? Why not talk about it?” Barry frowned.</p>
<p>“how well has that gone in the past?” Wally scowled, “Dick got tired of it, and now he’s gone. Kaldur is overly polite and doesn’t like to speak out till he’s at a limit, but even he is tired of never having a say.”</p>
<p>“and Conner? Megan? Artemis? Have you talked to them about this?”</p>
<p>“They haven’t been around as long as the rest of us, they might not have noticed it yet,” Wally said, “but eventually they’ll realise this team is just a way for the league to give us fake independence while controlling every move we make.”</p>
<p>Barry sighed, “okay, I get it,” he ran a hand down his face, “but going off on your own isn’t how to change anything. Talk to us, we’re not gonna shoot you down immediately.”</p>
<p>Wally raised an eyebrow, “you sure about that?”</p>
<p>Barry sighed, “okay it’s true for some more than others, but the league is a team too,” Barry said, “we have our shortfalls, but we learn from each other. I can bring this to the league, you guys can make your thoughts known, we can talk about a solution.”</p>
<p>Wally looked at his uncle. He loved him, he always had. He’d taken him in when his mother had died, he listened when he made his claims about his father’s abuse, he supported him, helped him understand his powers.</p>
<p>But he was just like the rest of the mentors on the league. They were blinded by the fact that they were almost parental figures to their students. They stunted their protégés progress.</p>
<p>A year ago they’d had similar conversations and the team had been born. They’d thought it was perfect, a sign the league was easing up. But it was a curse in disguise, another way to control them and keep them from danger.</p>
<p>So now they started the conversation again.</p>
<p>Wally wasn’t going to let the league come up with a new way to control them.</p>
<p>Wally gave his uncle a look, he wanted the conversation to be done. And if Barry didn’t win it never would.</p>
<p>“fine,” he said, and turned towards the stairs, “good night.”</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932383" name="_Toc51932383"></a>Pulling Wool</strong>
</h2>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Thalia insisted that Dick be able to have a shower and eat and change into decent clothes before they talked. The clothes supplied turned out to be pants that were cut similar to sweatpants but somehow made fancy, and Dick couldn’t for the life of him figure out how they’d managed that, and a long sleeved shirt with a hood and dark blue lining and flat shoes.</p>
<p>There was a perfect spot to hide a knife and a spot to slip a sword on the belt- he figured out a way to keep his escrima sticks there.</p>
<p>He opened the door to the room he’d been allotted and was met with the woman he’d been fighting out in the desert. She was wearing clothes of a similar cut and style to his own, she wasn’t wearing a mask and Dick committed her face to memory. Tan, dark green eyes, straight nose and defined jaw, dark hair cut short.</p>
<p>“hi,” Dick said, “uh, I think we got off on the wrong foot.”</p>
<p>“that would be one way of saying it,” she smiled, held a hand out, Dick shook it, “Alexandra.”</p>
<p>“Dick, but you knew that.”</p>
<p>Alexandra’s face fell slightly, the kind smile replaced quickly.</p>
<p>She motioned to follow and Dick did, striding through the halls.</p>
<p>“how do you do with surprises?”</p>
<p>“what kind?”</p>
<p>“secrets,” she said, watching his face, “things you don’t know about.”</p>
<p>“personal?” he asked.</p>
<p>She didn’t even need to consider, “very.”</p>
<p>Dick raised an eyebrow. He considered it. He’d gone through plenty of personal surprises in the past few days.</p>
<p>“I usually would say I’m good and I’d like to say it. but as of late, I haven’t taken them well.”</p>
<p>“truthful, that’s honourable.”</p>
<p>“well, it’s how my father raised me.”</p>
<p>Alexandra’s face seemed to fall, he seemed to have hit a nerve. He filed that away for later.</p>
<p>“well, I would ready myself if I were you.” Alexandra turned down a hall and walked up to a door. She stood by it, her stance mildly militant, she seemed to be high up the ladder of the league and well-trained if the fight he had with her was any indication.</p>
<p>The door opened, courtesy of two doormen who stood guard.</p>
<p>Dick and Alexandra walked in.</p>
<p>They were met with a dining room; a long dark-wood table, candle-esque chandeliers made of glass and warm-tinted light, three places set with fancy looking stuff with way less different types of cutlery than you would expect, a fancy rug stretched underneath. Thalia sat at the head, the other two places at either side. Dick took her left and Alex her right.</p>
<p>“where’s your bird friend?” she asked.</p>
<p>“hunting, it’s night time after all,” he crossed his arms and stared at the food set out, he wouldn’t touch it. not because it could be poisoned, but because of a degree of stubbornness, “I believe you promised me answers.”</p>
<p>He also believed that it was strange Alex was present.</p>
<p>“yes,” Thalia said, fingers hesitating over her fork, she raised her glass to her lips, “you want to talk about your father? Why would you come here for that?”</p>
<p>Dick levelled an unforgiving stare on her, “I stopped by Haley’s circus.”</p>
<p>Thalia’s grip on her glass tightened.</p>
<p>“Oh?”</p>
<p>“Don’t make me drag you to the conversation topic, you know what I want to know.” Dick scowled.</p>
<p>Thalia sat her glass down, stared at it as if it would give her answers.</p>
<p>“Alex, could you-“</p>
<p>“no, my Lady,” Alex said with a mildly disappointed smile, “this one’s all you.”</p>
<p>She sighed and mumbled, “why did I raise you this way?”</p>
<p>“cause you love to torment yourself.”</p>
<p>“<em>be</em>cause, young lady,” Thalia corrected.</p>
<p>Dick blinked. This Alex person was… raised by Thalia? That didn’t sound very typical of the shadows.</p>
<p>Dick levelled a glare on Thalia, he wanted answers, and he wasn’t going to herd her to them.</p>
<p>She gave him a sad look, “your father… yes, he used to work with us. He held a place of great honour- the personal guard of the Demon’s Head. He left, he saw your mother in a performance and was transfixed on the spot.”</p>
<p>Dick blinked, “he just… left? And you didn’t try to hunt him down and kill him?”</p>
<p>“no. when you are of a high stature you have more freedom. And I vouched for him…” she drifted off, staring at anywhere but Dick, “he loved your mother, and I… loved him. Which meant I wanted him to be happy.”</p>
<p>Dick stared at her, mouth agape, “I’m sorry, what?”</p>
<p>Thalia gave him a small smile, “surprised?”</p>
<p>“a little, yeah.”</p>
<p>“then I’ll mention that Alex is also your half-sister.”</p>
<p>“WHAT?!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Wally did not have safe houses and trust funds and hoodies of the perfect size to hide his face from cameras. He didn’t have a motorbike and a grapplehook and an understanding of how to be utterly destroyed, brought to your bottom rung, and remake everything. He didn’t have what Dick had and he didn’t have what Batman had.</p>
<p>But he had himself, and that was all he needed in the end.</p>
<p>He graduated in about three weeks, but he’d already done all his assignments, finished everything, it was just the fancy parade and everything that had to occur, he’d get all the documents anyway, likely sent to his old address because the school hadn’t changed it to his uncle Barry’s.</p>
<p>So he noted that in the back of his mind as the one thing that would cause him to come back and packed. He had a license- something his mother forced him to get for reasons he didn’t know till now- and a car, which meant he had plenty of room for stuff. It was the act of packing that would be difficult, because Barry could very easily find out.</p>
<p>Except he and Iris both had day jobs.</p>
<p>He called the school and told them he’d be staying home, that way they wouldn’t call anyone about his absence. Then he pulled his car round the back of the house so none of the neighbours would see. He filled the boot with anything he wouldn’t need while driving and the back seat with stuff he would want on hand.</p>
<p>The car was only a second-hand Mitsubishi hatchback sedan, dark magenta with a few scrapes and a dent on the back right. His mother had surprised him with it on his seventeenth.</p>
<p>He had mixed feelings about it. As he placed stuff on the back seat he was hit with the smell of the car freshener she had put inside the day he’d got it.</p>
<p>He’d driven it three times. Once when he got it, his mother smiling in the passenger seat and him feeling more freedom than ever, the open road stretching out as far as the eye could see. That was the only time he’d been happy while driving it.</p>
<p>The second time was to the hospital, after he got a call that his mother had been admitted by someone in the street. When he got there they said she’d been hit by a truck driver. Walked into the street without looking. His father said the same thing but with a lot more synonyms for idiot.</p>
<p>The third time was when he drove to the cemetery for her funeral. He refused to be in the same car as his father. Refused to stand next to him. Refused to speak to him. Refused to look at him. He got a black eye for it afterwards. Barry had stepped in before things got too hairy. After that he moved into his uncle’s house.</p>
<p>Iris had driven the car to their place and parked it out the front, it hadn’t been used since.</p>
<p>He preferred to run places, feel the wind, the exhilaration of the speed force and its energy zipping through him.</p>
<p>But he needed to use the car, it was the smart move.</p>
<p>So at 12:00, when all his neighbours were usually eating lunch or napping or watching TV, he drove away from his uncle’s house in the car his mother bought him. Every piece of it haunted with her memory. He refused to let that memory be tainted by his father.</p>
<p>So he drove while thinking of her only.</p>
<p>He did not look back.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>
<a id="_Toc51932384" name="_Toc51932384"></a>A History Lesson</h2>
<p>Years ago a man named John was the closest confidant of the Demon’s Head himself. Ra’s Al Ghul was guarded by a close friend, a tradition carried through the ages. The royal family of the League of Shadows always slept well, knowing their safety was in the hands of their guards. John looked after and he himself had trained the man who guarded Ra’s daughter Thalia.</p>
<p>It was not completely unheard of for a member of the Demon’s Head’s family to have relationships with the headguards. Thalia was not the first to become interested. As Ra’s heir she was expected to take the league one day, whether by force or by virtue from her father. A ruler had two main missions in life, to protect and oversee their people and to guarantee the strength of the next ruler.</p>
<p>Thalia had well and truly taken care of the second job already. There was a political side to creating or choosing an heir. They had to be strong, well trained. If they were not chosen specifically and instead the Demon’s Head left it to a biological child, the partner had to be a good choice. Strong, capable and honourable in the League’s eyes.</p>
<p>Thalia chose John, before they were even married or made official. It was against the rules but the two didn’t care.</p>
<p>But John had never truly loved Thalia. He had been smart enough to know not to object to her advances and he admired her, respected her. He had taken it to be the same thing as love, but when he met Mary Grayson he knew he had been wrong.</p>
<p>Thalia had vouched for him, and Ra’s had allowed him to leave. On the condition that John’s daughter stayed with the league and would grow to fill the position he was vacating.</p>
<p>So John left and Thalia stayed and she raised her daughter, Alexandra. Which meant she still had to choose an heir at some point.</p>
<p>Since, Alex had grown and trained. She was not yet Ra’s guard, instead guarding her mother. One day she would rise to guard her grandfather, but till then the position fell to… someone else.</p>
<p>Richard Grayson was not born in the league, his mother was not associated with the league. But Thalia had still asked her father when his parents were killed. She had asked if she could take the boy in.</p>
<p>Ra’s had said on one condition; no other had taken him. If Richard was not claimed within six months she could take him.</p>
<p>She was fine by that. John had come to her about the court, they were gone, they would not claim the boy.</p>
<p>But Batman had.</p>
<p>Thalia had considered him an option for her heir. She’d given up on true love as her option and decided on practicality. But Bruce Wayne was not interested and Thalia had left him be, until he took in Richard.</p>
<p>“I didn’t know what to say, how to say it, I couldn’t decide,” Thalia sighed, “so I decided to watch over you. One day I would tell you, but the longer it took the more worried I became of your reaction. So a secret it stayed.”</p>
<p>Dick stared between Thalia and Alex, mind reeling.</p>
<p>Alex gave him a sad smile, took a sip from her drink. She had known. As soon as Thalia had said his name she had known.</p>
<p><em>This is him? </em>She had exclaimed, and Dick didn’t know if he should be stung.</p>
<p>But there was one thing he did know, or rather one thing he knew he had to ask.</p>
<p>“Did Bruce know?” he watched Thalia’s expression closely.</p>
<p>She closed her eyes as she sighed, “he knew about my connection to your father, he knew why I decided to watch you, and he knew that, if he had not taken you in, I would have and you would have been destined to become one of us.”</p>
<p>Dick knew she was telling the truth.</p>
<p>Something in him crumbled, a final petal from a flower turned to dust, a small bit of hope left disappeared.</p>
<p>Whatever cliff he had been holding to, whatever last moral or guiding line Bruce had instilled in him he was keeping hold of, disappeared.</p>
<p>And he felt like he was falling again.</p>
<p>“and he never told me?” Dick stared at the plate before him. He felt like crying but at this point his body seemed used to the shock.</p>
<p>“I should have told you,” Thalia breathed, “I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>Dick grasped for anything. Some final thing to make him believe in the man who’d looked after him for years.</p>
<p>He came up empty. He fell, and there was nothing to grab onto.</p>
<p>Alex was silent, also staring at her own untouched plate. Thalia was silent, but she watched Dick with worry.</p>
<p>“why are you here, Dick? For answers, yes, but there must be some other reason. You could have called, I would have come to the manor-“</p>
<p>“Bruce tried to bench me,” Dick said, finally looking up, “apparently I’m too emotional to be robin. I wanted to cool off, I didn’t know if I’d come back…”</p>
<p>His voice faltered.</p>
<p>“I talked to Pop Haley, I just wanted to see a familiar face. He told me about some of this, I think he was just tired of me not knowing.” Dick cleared his throat, “I don’t want to go back anymore.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t think you would,” Thalia said, “you’re free to stay here as long as you want. I won’t kid myself, you can handle yourself, I’m sure you can figure things out.”</p>
<p>Dick pursed his lips, he wasn’t so sure.</p>
<p>“and if you want…” Thalia faltered, seemed to reconsider her words, “no never mind. I’ll let you decide things for yourself.”</p>
<p>Alex snorted, “she’s trying very hard.”</p>
<p>Thalia gave her a long suffering stare.</p>
<p>“well it’s appreciated,” Dick said, taking a deep breath to stop himself from crying, “I came here just to understand, and I don’t actually know where to go from here if I’m being honest.”</p>
<p>Alex smiled, “you’re a hero aren’t you? Maybe you can hover around and stop some muggings,” she teased.</p>
<p>“I’m sure I’ll make a lot of difference.” Dick rolled his eyes, “besides, I’ve never heard of any bid-time heavy hitter villains around here. Just political and war stuff. Nothing on the league’s list, and we’re not allowed to get involved in international politics and stuff.”</p>
<p>“well, you can stick around and I’ll teach you how to properly use a sword,” Alex offered, smiling over the rim of her glass as she raised it to her lips.</p>
<p>“look, I did okay for someone who never got formal training,” Dick said, “besides, I could probably beat you with a bo staff.”</p>
<p>“is that a challenge?”</p>
<p>“no,” Thalia cut in before Dick could say anything.</p>
<p>“you’re no fun,” Alex grinned sideways.</p>
<p>Thalia sighed, “yes, twenty years of being a mother and I have always been focused on <em>fun.</em>”</p>
<p>Alex stuck her tongue at her, quickly hiding it before her mother could properly see it.</p>
<p>Dick snorted and picked up his fork, finally taking notice of what was actually on the plate in front of him. Steamed rice with vegetables and sauce, pork dumplings and some kind of mashed sweet potato situation with spices.</p>
<p>“it’s not poisoned,” Alex said, taking a bite of her’s to prove it, “and I made sure the chef didn’t skimp on the spices cause you’re American.”</p>
<p>“I’m not-“</p>
<p>“ssh, it’s bait don’t take it,” she snickered.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932385" name="_Toc51932385"></a>Crossroads</strong>
</h2>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dick stared out at the Gotham streets, neon lights an eyesore and traffic never wavering. It looked the exact same, it felt the exact same. The Robin uniform did not.</p>
<p>It had been shoved into the crammed edges of his bag as a last-ditch option if he needed it. he had his utility belt and other bits and pieces on hand, but the actual uniform and fancy stuff was stuffed away. He didn’t necessarily want to suit up, but the situation kind of required it.</p>
<p>He needed to think and if possible he needed to talk to someone. Who was the question.</p>
<p>At first his thought on where to go next was pretty empty. He didn’t actually have any open options. But then a few occurred to him. He could run off to the circus, even though Haley was worried about the court. He could always find a way to persuade him, if not he could try and get a contract or something with a different circus.</p>
<p>He could pick a city and start doing the hero thing around there, deciding how he did it himself.</p>
<p>Or… he could hang around the League of Shadows.</p>
<p>All considered at this point he was pretty done with Batman’s no killing rule. Before it had seemed obvious, a guiding light of standards. Now… well. Some people just deserved death, some people were too dangerous to be left alive. Humanity itself wasn’t great at determining who fit into the first category, but the second was usually pretty clear. The Shadows wanted power, sure, but they largely believed that everywhere else was fucking stupid and needed them to swoop in a fix things for them.</p>
<p>And Thalia had all but offered him the possibility…</p>
<p>But it was a bit of a quick 180, from hero to assassin. How was he sure this was actually what he believed in?</p>
<p>Except… everyone else seemed to think it was what he was.</p>
<p>As he moved throughout the Gotham streets, grappling from building to building with ease, he thought on how Bruce hadn’t told him about Thalia.</p>
<p>He’d tried to bench him because he was emotional, so emotional that he was a-</p>
<p>He stumbled as he landed on a roof.</p>
<p>A threat. He was endangering everyone he was with. That’s what Batman had said.</p>
<p>In other words, he was dangerous.</p>
<p>Bruce knew about his father, he knew about the fact that if things had gone a bit differently he’d have been an assassin. Dick didn’t know of he was right, physically couldn’t, but…</p>
<p>Bruce was trying to turn him into the next Batman, he was squashing out any sign of non-batman-ness as soon as it appeared.</p>
<p>He puffed out a breath, hands on his knees as he stared at the roof between his feet.</p>
<p>
  <em>“oh, so your instinct is to kill people, now?”</em>
</p>
<p>Everyone seemed to think as much. Everyone seemed to think he was seconds from blowing, seconds from jumping off the deep end and becoming someone else.</p>
<p>Everyone else thought of him this way.</p>
<p>They thought he was born from monsters? Etched from an inhumane stone? Raised for ill will? Destined to become an outlaw?</p>
<p>He could show them an outlaw. If they wanted to give him a damn box he’d happily sit in it, and they could deal with the repercussions.</p>
<p>As he stood straight his fists clenched and he grit his teeth.</p>
<p>Oh, he was so over playing the good guy. So over tip-toeing around everyone else. Done with the rules. Tired of the statuses and the games.</p>
<p>He was over it.</p>
<p>“kitten?”</p>
<p>Dick glared at the direction the voice came from.</p>
<p>Selina, suited up. Cat Woman didn’t appear in Gotham a lot anymore, at least not how she used to.</p>
<p>She slid her goggles off her eyes onto her forehead as she materialised out of the shadows, staring at Dick with wide eyes.</p>
<p>“Dick where have you been?”</p>
<p>Dick didn’t even bother pretending, “around. don’t worry, I’ll be out of your hair again quickly,” he said, as he turned Selina hurried over.</p>
<p>“no, kitten, wait,” she said, turning him around with a  hand on his shoulder, “come home, we can talk about this.”</p>
<p>“talk about what?” he asked, scowling.</p>
<p>“the warehouse, Zucco,” she said, “please, think about this.”</p>
<p>Dick brushed her hand off, “I’ve thought plenty.”</p>
<p>Selina clenched her jaw, “<em>Dick Grayson</em>, turn around and talk to me, young man.”</p>
<p>Dick scowled and whipped around to face her, “you want me to talk?!”</p>
<p>His hands turned to fists, “Bruce tried to fire me from the job I created, tried to take something way he had no right to control, and acted like he was surprised when I was angry! My parent’s killer was let out of jail because of how he does his damn job, which makes me wonder, how many more people have been allowed to hurt others because he fucked about with a case?” Dick threw his hands about, “and then I find out that he’s keeping secrets from me about my fucking family! We’re supposed to be a team! I’ve been through hell the past week and he couldn’t fucking care less!”</p>
<p>Selina sighed, “Kitten, I know Bruce is… difficult, but-“</p>
<p>“he’s difficult, and I’m done with dealing with it,” Dick scowled, “he had his chance, seven years of chances, I’m done dealing with him fucking everyone over and never being held accountable.”</p>
<p>“but, look, I get it, I do. The thing about Bruce is he’s…” Selina tried to find words, “look, we can figure out a way to deal with this. Bruce-“</p>
<p>“no, you don’t get it Selina,” Dick said, “this isn’t about Bruce anymore. I decided to leave, so I did. Everything since has nothing to do with him.”</p>
<p>Selina sighed, “Kitten, of course it has to do with Bruce.”</p>
<p>“why does everyone think that it all comes down to Batman?!” Dick screamed.</p>
<p>“you’re Robin!” Selina said, “of course it’s about Batman.”</p>
<p>Dick grit his teeth, every muscle taught, “<em>fine</em>. If that’s how it always is,” Dick hissed, he grabbed the mask on his face and threw it to the ground, “then I’ll make it official,” he unclipped the cape, tossed it at Selina, “I’m <em>done</em>,” he tore off the gloves, unclipped the front of the overshirt, “I’m <em>done, </em>I <em>quit</em>, the hero gig?” he tossed it all to the ground, “<em>I’M FUCKING DONE WITH IT!”</em></p>
<p>Dick unclipped his utility belt.</p>
<p>He threw it over the side of the roof.</p>
<p>“tell Bruce I said, ‘fuck you’.”</p>
<p>And he turned toward the fire escape and stormed off.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. The One Year Skip</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Let's catch up after one year, see where our dear characters are at.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Okay so, trigger warning for mentions and depictions of drug abuse/addiction. during the section subtitled 'End of an Era', from the start of the horizontal line is a scene that may be triggering to readers made uncomfortable by talk about drugs, as it depicts a character coming down from a high and all that stuff. If you're worried just skip from the horizontal line to the subtitle 'Wally's Turn at Turmoil', that'll avoid all the not fun stuff. Of course, I'll add a description of the scene so you still know the important things, in the end notes.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932386" name="_Toc51932386"></a>The One Year Skip</strong>
</h1>
<p> </p>
<h2>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932387" name="_Toc51932387"></a>Gifts</strong>
</h2>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Good Morning Jump City!”</p>
<p>“coming up: a tragic crash; a family driven off the road in our city’s fifth accident this month. Real estate Prices; the best times to be buying property and where? And the return of our weekly segment; Jump City’s speedster.”</p>
<p>Wally groaned, reached for his phone on his night stand without opening his eyes. His hand hit something and he cracked his eyes open: the couch. His hand was hitting the side of the couch.</p>
<p>Great, did he manage to take his shoes off this time?</p>
<p>He sat up; no he had not.</p>
<p>“first up today; the man donning drag to raise money for family’s grappling with cancer.”</p>
<p>Wally grabbed the remote from the coffee table and turned off the TV.</p>
<p>There was a mug of coffee, half empty, on the table with several documents scattered over the surface. The papers were a mix of invoices, notes from work and records from his superhero stuff.</p>
<p>He gathered up the superhero stuff and sped them to his safe. He needed to make a habit of not letting them lie around, but in the past year he hadn’t managed it.</p>
<p>He tipped out his discarded coffee from the night before, washed the mug and then set it on the counter with sugar and put the coffee pot on. He checked the calendar; he didn’t have to head into the shop till Friday, he had time to smash out some school work till then.</p>
<p>And he also had to, at some point, save the city from Zoom. No biggie.</p>
<p>Wally poured out the coffee, rubbing at his head. His neck was sore.</p>
<p>The papers on the coffee table moved.</p>
<p>Wally didn’t look. His eyes glanced to the window, open, he could’ve sworn he closed it when he got home last night. He stirred his coffee, trying to look at the corners of the apartment without tipping off whoever had snuck in.</p>
<p>He saw something move.</p>
<p>He grabbed at it. tripping it up and pushing it against the wall.</p>
<p>It couldn’t be Zoom, he was <em>way </em>faster than Wally. The only reason he hadn’t killed him yet was probably because he liked messing about with Wally.</p>
<p>He finally bothered to get a good look at his attacker-</p>
<p>“Barry?”</p>
<p>“hey Kiddo, want to let me go now?”</p>
<p>Wally dropped him, and stared as his uncle rubbed at his neck and straightened up.</p>
<p>“ow, nice reflexes,” his uncle smiled.</p>
<p>“what are you doing here?” Wally asked flatly.                                                                                                            </p>
<p>His uncle grimaced and gave him a smile, “can’t I check in on my nephew?”</p>
<p>Wally rose an eyebrow, “not this one.”</p>
<p>Hs uncle deflated, shoulders drooping.</p>
<p>“look, kid-“</p>
<p>“not a kid.”</p>
<p>“uh,” Barry huffed awkwardly, “look, uh, I…” he groaned, “I wanted to check on you and… give you something. I was gonna speed in and out before you saw me, seeing as you probably didn’t want to see me but-“</p>
<p>“you’re rambling,” Wally said, crossed his arms with a small smile, “just because I ran off doesn’t mean I don’t want to see you.”</p>
<p>“that’s not the impression you gave me.”</p>
<p>“well…” Wally rubbed at his hair. He had been ignoring all his calls… “look, that’s fair.”</p>
<p>Barry chuckled, “I think we’ve both made mistakes and are at fault for this mess in our own ways, I’m sorry for that.”</p>
<p>Wally snorted, “yeah, okay, that’s fair,” he gestured to his couch, “I’ll make you some coffee.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Wally stared at the box. Nothing fancy, not even a ribbon, but there was a letter on top. Barry had planned on leaving it here and running off before Wally noticed.</p>
<p>What was in it? during the entire conversation with Barry he hadn’t thought to bring it up. Barry had said he would need it, that it was something that would help. His uncle had offered to stick around, having noticed there was some speedster hanging around causing trouble. Wally told him he had it under control, to leave, that he was fine.</p>
<p>He must have become a rather good liar to have pulled that off.</p>
<p>Wally opened the letter.</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <em>‘Hey Wally,</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I haven’t seen you in a while, and I largely blame myself for that. You haven’t been picking up your phone, so I figured you didn’t want to talk, but I needed to give you this. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The team’s okay, they were helping with the search. We still haven’t found Dick, but… we’re not giving up any time soon. There’s been a few new additions and Batman’s training a new kid. Iris is doing great, she sends her love. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I’m sorry I never took what you were saying seriously. I get it now. The team talked to the league about their freedom and… well, they seemed hesitant, and like you said all their solutions didn’t really fix the problem. Kaldur’Ahm has started running the team more, Batman offers missions here and there and Canary comes in to help with training, but now they’re almost their own independent team from the league. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>If you want to come back, the invitation is always open. But I’m proud of what you’ve been doing on your own. You’ve really grown into your own hero </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Now you just need the colours. A long time ago before I was The Flash, I gave a friend some advice, and he gave it to me when I became the speedster I am today. I offer you that advice now:</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Wear a mask.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>With love and support, always,</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Barry.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>P.S. you can thank Hal for the design input and Kate for the actual structure.</em>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>Wally opened the box and pulled out what was inside.</p>
<p>A uniform- or rather a costume.</p>
<p>Just like his kid flash one but silver, the goggles and accents and computer systems in deep magenta. Along the side a lightning bolt and a utility belt with gadgets. The boots specifically made to deal with his speed- which meant no longer buying a new pair of sneakers every two weeks.</p>
<p>Wally stared at it.</p>
<p>“oh, Sisco Ramone, you’ve outdone yourself this time.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<h2>
<a id="_Toc51932388" name="_Toc51932388"></a><strong>Deal With It</strong>
</h2>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dick ducked, a sword slicing through the air above him, right where his head had been. He sprung away, twisting and dodging till he could get around his opponent and start an attack.</p>
<p>“you move like a damn snake!” Alex hissed, “how hard is it for you to stay still?”</p>
<p>Dick cackled, rolling out of a hit and springing back on the attack. His own sword light in his hands as he and his sister traded blows.</p>
<p>They were a storm as they crossed the mats, never still, never stopping. Their swords clashed with ringing crashes, their bare feet silent along the training floor. They seemed a match till Dick dodged a little too late- the sword swung at his head and instead of being safely above him it swung an inch from his neck as he stumbled backwards.</p>
<p>As Dick continued to dodge backwards his head raced, eyes wide as he remembered the blade at his throat. Alex didn’t realise, she continued moving and swept Dick’s legs from beneath him.</p>
<p>Dick froze, sword dropping from his hand. Alex stood above him, panting.</p>
<p>“You good? usually you’d have moved out of that one,” she asked, extending a hand to help him up.</p>
<p>Dick swallowed, shaking his head to try and come back to reality, “I’m fine,” he cleared his throat and accepted Alex’s extended hand.</p>
<p>Alex gave him a look, very clearly not believing the lie.</p>
<p>Before she could breach the topic, the doors to the training room opened.</p>
<p>The two whipped their heads to the sound, hearing Thalia berating the person who had entered.</p>
<p>“What are you doing? I told you-“</p>
<p>“I live here, I can go where I want,” the man said. He was tall, long white hair, an eyepatch, pale, wearing standard clothing expected around the shadows.</p>
<p>Alex seemed to know who it was, Dick had a guess.</p>
<p>“Wilson, you’re home early,” Alex drawled.</p>
<p>Slade Wilson eyed Dick, “I’m gone for a year and you drag a hero in here?”</p>
<p>Dick glared at him and Thalia glanced between them all.</p>
<p>Right, now he remembered. Alex was Thalia’s guard, Wilson was Ra’s. Dick didn’t know how that could be a good idea, considering Wilson had a mercenary job to pay attention to. Perhaps Ra’s just needed someone to fill the position and didn’t actually want or need his guard around.</p>
<p>In the past year Wilson had been off on a mission from the shadows, now he was back. Which was brilliant, because Dick had plenty of experience with Deathstroke.</p>
<p>“he’s not a hero, he’s family,” Alex said with a smile and a half-hug to her brother.</p>
<p>“he’s Batman’s kid,” Wilson said, giving Thalia a glare.</p>
<p>Thalia gave him a snooty look, “my father agreed to it, and Dick passed the entrance test with flying colours.”</p>
<p>Wilson chuckled and turned away from Dick dismissively, “this is a disgrace to your family’s ancestry.”</p>
<p>Thalia gave him a cruel smile, “may I speak with you in private?”</p>
<p>She guided Wilson out, looking over her shoulder at Dick and Alex, “keep up the training!”</p>
<p>Alex snorted as the doors closed, twirling her sword absentmindedly, “fuckwad.”</p>
<p>Dick snickered, “agreed.”</p>
<p>“you two know each other?”</p>
<p>“he and Batman have faced off plenty, he tried manipulating me to turn against him as a power move, yadda, yadda, didn’t work.” Dick shrugged, “kinda wish it did, it would’ve saved me a lot of trouble seeing as I ended up here anyway.”</p>
<p>Alex smiled, “nah, the past is history, it turned out exactly how it had to for you to get here.”</p>
<p>“oh thank you, Sensei Alex, for your wisdom.”</p>
<p>“yeah, here’s lesson number two,” she picked his sword off the mat and handed it back to Dick, “don’t lie to your sister and tell her why you froze up.”</p>
<p>“oddly specific,” he smirked as he took his sword back, “this sounds like misuse of the teacher-student power dynamic.”</p>
<p>“I’ll give you teacher-student power dynamic,” she grinned as she swung her sword in a wide arc. Dick dodged last second, a small cut opening along his bicep where the blade managed to hit.</p>
<p>“hey, that’s cheating!” he vaulted away from another hit.</p>
<p>Alex cackled and continued a flurry of attacks and Dick dodged easily.</p>
<p>“you’ve wounded me!” Dick gasped dramatically as he noticed the cut.</p>
<p>“It’ll heal in like a minute,” she said as she continued attacking, “quit complaining.”</p>
<p>Dick fake pouted as he dodged an attack and used the momentum to turn and swing his leg around to trip Alex. She jumped and rolled out of the trip and Dick moved to attack before she could get her bearings.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The sparring match ended with Dick losing, a not uncommon occurrence seeing as his sister had like fifteen times as much experience as him. Once he managed to make her spar with escrima sticks, he’d won. But his side had hurt from laughing after Alex analysed the sticks with confusion and mumbled, “but there’s no sharp side, what do you hit them with?”</p>
<p>After training they went out into the main part of Nanda Parbat. It was basically its own small citadel inside the mountain range. There were so many assassins in the guild, they needed a solid base. There were houses and shops and a school for any children. Alex and Dick favoured a specific café, the first one ever opened in the whole place. It was a family business, and it sold the best coffee he’d ever drank.</p>
<p>Alex was also close friends with the barista.</p>
<p>“two medium flat whites and a slice of pecan pie,” Alex ordered, forcing her faint blush to go away.</p>
<p>“you’re getting pie? I want pie,” Dick said, “Saabira do you have any-“</p>
<p>“rhubarb and pear pie? Baba made a new batch this morning,” Saabira said, “I’ll have those out to you soon.”</p>
<p>She smiled and Alex ran her hand through her hair as she looked away, pretending to try and find a table. Dick snickered and elbowed her, she pushed his head away with a scowl.</p>
<p>“shut up,” she muttered, sitting down in a spot with a good view of the outside.</p>
<p>There weren’t cars, the place wasn’t big enough, no one had built the streets with huge automobiles in mind. Once people started complaining about how hard it was to get from one end of the place to the other only on foot, Ra’s had paths built along the sides of the street for bikes and other small vehicles. Motorbikes were still a no, unfortunately, but Dick still intended to get his hands on a new bike to ride around the surrounding area with.</p>
<p>It did mean that the street was quiet compared to Gotham, something that took Dick months to get used to.</p>
<p>“so,” Alex decided to change the subject, “how you gonna deal with Slade?”</p>
<p>Dick groaned, “I have no idea.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dick walked down the halls of the mansion with very little attention. He knew where he was going, he trusted his feet to get there.</p>
<p>He was too busy putting together all the pieces of the mission he’d just been given. He hadn’t had a mission for a good handful of months, it would be good to get out in the field. He’d been out of Nanda Perbat since he had joined the shadows, but it was different when you were in uniform and getting ready to kill someone.</p>
<p>As he was walking his shin bumped into something and he looked down to find a baby.</p>
<p>Dick cracked a smile and picked Damian up, “hey there buddy, what are you doing all the way over here?”</p>
<p>Damian mumbled a bit and stuck his hand in his mouth.</p>
<p>Dick snickered and looked down the hall, Thalia wasn’t anywhere, nor was Damian’s governess (because in the Al Ghul family you had a <em>governess</em>, not a nanny) Damian probably decided to explore again. That happened rather often. Usually he didn’t get all the way to the part of the mansion that was kept aside for work purposes.</p>
<p>Dick sat him on his hip and walked along with him. Babies were great to bounce ideas off of cause all they could do was make sounds and stare.</p>
<p>“so, Dickie’s got to kill a mobster tomorrow,” Dick said as he started walking, “what do you reckon? Is it suspicious that they’re claiming to be able to bring military grade weapons to a measly Metropolis gang? I think it is.”</p>
<p>Damian babbled and pulled at Dick’s hair.</p>
<p>“thanks buddy,” he said, pulling his locks away from Damian’s grasp, “you’re a great partner in this investigation.”</p>
<p>He came to a turn and ran into Slade.</p>
<p>“Grayson.”</p>
<p>“Wilson.”</p>
<p>“heard you’ve got a mission.”</p>
<p>“yeah,” he said, “and?”</p>
<p>“reckon you can handle it?”</p>
<p>Dick raised an eyebrow, “the guy’s 5 foot nothing, weighs barely a hundred pounds, works in a journalism industry and majored in English and media studies, I think I’ve got this.”</p>
<p>Damian blew a raspberry and wiggled, Dick set him down on the ground, keeping an eye on him.</p>
<p>“I didn’t mean handling the guy, I meant killing him.”</p>
<p>“same thing,” Dick said without skipping a beat.</p>
<p>“in your line of work it isn’t.”</p>
<p>“we have the same line of work,” Dick said.</p>
<p>Slade laughed, actually laughed, and crossed his arms, “don’t lie to me.”</p>
<p>Dick rolled his eyes, “okay,” he gave Slade a smile, “look, just because I used to work for Batman-“</p>
<p>“oh no, no, no, <em>used to</em>? You still work for Batman, I am 100% sure of that.”</p>
<p>Dick almost groaned, “Wilson, I’ve got a job to do that I would like to have done my homework for, can you get out of my way and leave me alone?”</p>
<p>“I guard Ra’s Al Ghul, I am in charge of his security. Like hell am I just letting you wander around so you can tell Bat-turd everything and lead the heroes in here.”</p>
<p>“what’s it gonna take for me to get you to leave me alone?”</p>
<p>“you physically can’t.”</p>
<p>“great, so there’s no point to this conversation then. Why don’t you,” he picked up Damian and held him out to Slade, “take him to his room so I can do my job, thanks, unless you’d prefer for a mission given by The Demon’s Head himself to go wrong?”</p>
<p>Slade begrudgingly took Damian from Dick and before he could say anything, Dick walked off.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“hey, hold up,” Alex said as she grabbed Dick’s sleeve.</p>
<p>He stumbled back, pushing his hood back as Alex pulled him aside.</p>
<p>“before you go off on this mission, I had the blacksmith make this for you.”</p>
<p>She held out what looked like a piece of fabric, and Dick accepted it with a confused frown.</p>
<p>It seemed to be some kind of armourweave material, a circular band of it about five inches wide. There was some kind of structure to it, like short metal rods had been sewn in lengthwise, with fish scaling that connected them.</p>
<p>“whaaaaaat is this?”</p>
<p>“extra armouring that you can fasten around your neck underneath your uniform,” she said, running her hand through her hair, “cause, you know, I wouldn’t want you freezing up on a mission. We can talk out the reasoning behind the reaction some time, but for now it’ll do.”</p>
<p>Dick blinked, “you… had this made for me?”</p>
<p>“yeah,” she smiled, “it’s armoured material with metal chaining inside, bullets at point blank will go through, but arrows and knives and things won’t manage it unless your attacker has Ubu levels of strength.”</p>
<p>Dick smiled, “wow, you’re such a softie.”</p>
<p>“shut up and get to the helicopter pad before Duvall gets tired of waiting.”</p>
<p>Dick grinned as he fastened the band around his neck, pulled the uniform collar back over, then shoved the hood over his head.</p>
<p>“I’ll see you for breakfast tomorrow.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Duvall was a tall, lanky man about as proportioned as a power-line pole. He had a shiny handlebar moustache that Dick had seen Damian chew on, and he wore monotone suits and top hats. He also was a practical man, the perfect type to be in charge of back-up and transport on missions. He wasn’t bored when Dick showed up because he was right on time. Duvall was, however, talking to Slade.</p>
<p>Dick grit his teeth, stormed over. Duvall seemed to notice his demeanour and edged away, Dick glared Slade down.</p>
<p>“What the fuck do you want?”</p>
<p>“I’m watching you tonight,” Slade said, a small smile appearing as if he’d just fucking caught Dick red handed, “I’m catching you in your lies bird-boy.”</p>
<p>“oh, for the love of,” Dick pinched the bridge of his nose, “I have a genuine mission tonight, a job, if you get in my way, I don’t give a damn about who you are, I will-“</p>
<p>“what?” Slade grinned, “go to Batdad and tell on me? Listen here you little shit, I don’t have proof yet, but you bet your ass I’m gonna find some tonight.”</p>
<p>“whatever,” Dick sighed, “come along for all I care, you can watch on while I slit this guy’s throat, then we can have it out afterwards. But I intend to do the job I’m here for, then we can argue.”</p>
<p>“fine by me,” he grinned, stepping out of the way and guiding him to the door of the helicopter.</p>
<p>Dick jumped inside, placing his bag next to the other side’s door and leaning forward to the driver’s seat where Duvall was firing things up.</p>
<p>“anything to report?”</p>
<p>“none sir,” Duvall said, “I’ll drop you at the usual Metropolis point, where would you like pickup?”</p>
<p>“McDowell tower, I’ll alert you if emergency pick up is necessary,” he said as he took his comm and made sure it was fastened in his right ear, “Slade’s tagging along, so I doubt I’ll need to call you in for backup.”</p>
<p>“jolly good,” Duvall grinned.</p>
<p>Dick leaned back into his seat, pulling on the helmet and holding one out to Slade as Duvall started firing up the engine.</p>
<p>“Will miss Isabel be joining us tonight?” Duvall asked over the comms.</p>
<p>“she’ll be meeting us there,” Dick said.</p>
<p>“Isabel?” Slade asked, “I thought this mission was supposed to be just you?”</p>
<p>“where Dick goes Isabel goes, don’t you know?” Duvall said.</p>
<p>Dick rolled his eyes, “spotted owl, ‘bout this big,” he said, holding his hands about a foot and a half apart, “met her a year ago, she’s helped me out of plenty of trouble.”</p>
<p>“You’re mission partner… is a bird?”</p>
<p>“don’t knock her till you meet her.” Duvall grinned.</p>
<p>The blades were finally fast enough and Duvall began lifting off, Slade cleared his throat and gripped the handle along the ceiling next to the door. Dick sat with one leg on the other, reclining with ease. He leaned his head to the window to watch the ground drop out from beneath them. Duvall lurched the helicopter, turbulence hitting as they sped up into the air. Slade grunted and gripped the handle tighter, pointedly not looking out the window.</p>
<p>Dick held in laughter the entire trip. As much as he’d love to make fun of Slade it probably wouldn’t make dealing with him any easier.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They landed at LexCorp tower, thankfully with no meeting crew. Dick had had to deal with Luthor once and he did not want to go through it again.</p>
<p>Duvall flew off- not having actually landed- and Dick lead Slade to a building adjacent where they could take cover without being spotted by cameras. As he put his bag of gear down by a wall Slade leaned back, making no effort to mask how he watched Dick’s every move.</p>
<p>Dick stood straight, held out his arm, and Isabel swooped in, landing with grace and rubbing her head into Dick’s neck before beginning to preen.</p>
<p>“aw, she’s cute,” Slade said, voice dry and drawling, “can’t see the use though.”</p>
<p>Dick scratched behind Isa’s head, voice calm and completely at ease as he said, “she’s bred specifically for this line of work, right from the Court of Owls aviary.”</p>
<p>Slade froze on the spot.</p>
<p>Dick shot him a smile as Isa fluttered to the ground. He picked the bag up and turned to the edge of the roof.</p>
<p>“Stuart Kessel is due to be in his apartment in about fifteen minutes, it’s about that long to get there by my standards, coming?”</p>
<p>Slade was still frozen and staring at him, Dick didn’t wait till he snapped out of his shock. He secured his bag and turned away, Isa set off flying to follow. He fastened his hood so it would stay up and pulled the cloth up over his mouth. The extra cover over his neck kept it warm, which was a second benefit he appreciated. He made sure his weapons were secure and then jumped off the roof.</p>
<p>If he was watching he’d have seen Slade’s head whip to the edge of the building as he sped over. Dick didn’t see it, he was too busy swinging on a beam connected to another building, parkouring along to the next building. He turned to see Slade’s copper and black mask. He held his hands in a semi-shrug and muttered over the comms:</p>
<p>“you coming?”</p>
<p>Slade seemed to grunt and roll his eyes, but he followed.</p>
<p>Dick made sure he could see Isa, as always she was circling above.</p>
<p>“try to keep up,” Dick snickered to Slade as he started running off again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Isa settled onto the rail next to the two and puffed her feathers, preening. No one was around and stalking them, all clear. Dick nodded to Slade, both standing on either side of the huge window that led to the fire escape. Inside a few warm lights were turned on, they could hear the shower going in the nearby bathroom of the apartment.</p>
<p>“how you want to play it?” Slade asked.</p>
<p>“get in before he’s out, you start seeing if you can find any sign of documents or information to do with these weapons he’s apparently got. I’ll hide and jump him, restrain him. we’ll see if we can get anything out of him then kill him.” Dick leaned in, checking once more that there was no one inside the apartment other than Kessel, “let’s keep this quick and professional.”</p>
<p>Slade nodded and Dick opened the window, sliding in. he kept to the wall, moving around furniture as Slade followed him inside.</p>
<p>Dick checked the surroundings, familiarising himself with the layout. As Slade started quietly rifling through things, Dick turned down the hallway. Once Kessel was out of the bathroom he’d probably head to the bedroom. Dick couldn’t trust he was the type to get dressed in the bathroom so he figured he’d hide in what seemed to be a guest bedroom/study. He didn’t care for attacking naked people.</p>
<p>once Kessel walked past, Dick snuck back out, giving him a couple minutes. Then he peeked in. Kessel threw a bathrobe over his nightshirt and boxers. He didn’t seem to have any weapons on him.</p>
<p>as Kessel made his way to the door Dick stood to the side. He hid behind the door as Kessel slipped into the hallway, then jumped him from behind.</p>
<p>Before Kessel could do anything he held a knife under his throat, “do me a favour and shut up.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He had two dining chairs tucked into a very small table, so Slade and Dick tied him to one. Finally turning on the lights.</p>
<p>“did you find anything?”</p>
<p>“nothing, we’ll have to get information out of him ourselves,” Slade said.</p>
<p>“Brilliant,” Dick sighed.</p>
<p>As much as he was well-and-truly one of Ra’s Al Ghul’s assassins and could do the job, he still didn’t much care for interrogations. At least, not their type of interrogation. He was a pro at what the heroes did. He just couldn’t get into the violence of the assassins way of getting information.</p>
<p>“I’m not telling you anything,” Kessel grunted.</p>
<p>Slade laughed, pulled out his dagger, “you sure about that?”</p>
<p>“you think you scare me?” Kessel snorted, “you’re just some mercenary. A famous one, but still a mercenary.”</p>
<p>Isa glided in and rested on the back of Kessel’s couch. She flapped her wings as she got comfortable, making a trilling sound.</p>
<p>Slade glanced between the bird and Dick, “what’s that mean?”</p>
<p>“it means there’s no threats around,” Dick said, watching as Isa wandered along the couch and tried to find somewhere comfortable, “and she’s restless. This has been a very boring mission so far.”</p>
<p>Kessel scoffed, “didn’t realise Deathstroke had a kid.”</p>
<p>“he’s not-“</p>
<p>“if you’re gonna talk Kessel, at least make it interesting,” Dick said, took Slade’s dagger and absentmindedly twirled it in his hand.</p>
<p>Slade seemed happy to let him take the lead, it was his mission after all. But Dick could feel his surprised stare on the back of his neck.</p>
<p>“I’m not scared of the world renowned merc over there, boy, what makes you think you’re any more terrifying?”</p>
<p>Dick could stomach this, he knew he could. But he didn’t want to. He could kill a man but this was something that required… enjoyment.</p>
<p>But he couldn’t let on. Kessel wouldn’t give them anything if he didn’t believe Dick would make him hurt. And Slade was very likely to lose any belief in his loyalties if he couldn’t do this.</p>
<p>Dick took a deep breath. He could rely on his new skills and habits on this mission so far. But Alex hadn’t exactly sat down and taught him how to beat the shit out of a person till they told him everything he wanted to know.</p>
<p>So he fell back on old teachings.</p>
<p>He twirled the blade once more and stabbed it into Kessel’s thigh. He stood back up, nonchalant and arms crossed, Kessel writhed as he bit back a yelp.</p>
<p>“you claim to be able to bring military-grade weapons at a low price, to a mere metropolis mob.”</p>
<p>“mere? It’s a mob-“</p>
<p>“I grew up in Gotham, your gangs are child’s play,” Dick sighed, “where are you getting the weapons and how?”</p>
<p>“go fuck yourself kid.”</p>
<p>“charming.”</p>
<p>Slade edged closer, facing away from Kessel and leaning in to mumble, in Afghani, <em>“I can take care of this if you want.”</em></p>
<p>Dick rolled his eyes, <em>“this is my mission. Besides, he knows you’ll just kill him. he doesn’t think I can, and I know how this kind of guy works.”</em></p>
<p>
  <em>“what do you mean?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“there are some things Batman taught me I can still use.”</em>
</p>
<p>Dick shouldered passed Slade and glared down at Kessel, “last chance.”</p>
<p>Kessel snorted.</p>
<p>Dick took out his escrima stick, “have it your way.”</p>
<p>The thing with Batman is his no kill rule was a very big extreme. There’s a lot you can do to a person before they’re dead.</p>
<p>Batman usually kept such technicalities to when he was alone on missions. The justice league would never stand for it, but they knew it happened. They turned a blind eye because Batman was honestly the person who kept the whole thing running. But it wasn’t uncommon for Batman to send Dick off on some unnecessary task while he beat the living shit out of someone for information.</p>
<p>Dick usually finished the meaningless task before Batman was done with his task. So he would come back and hide in the shadows and watch.</p>
<p>Bruce knew, he always knew that Dick had seen it. he never spoke about it.</p>
<p>Dick wasn’t sure when Slade left to stand on the fire escape. He wasn’t sure when he changed from his escrima stick to his knife. he wasn’t sure when Kessel had stopped making sarcastic comments between hits.</p>
<p>But eventually Dick stood back and wiped away the blood on his cheek. He wasn’t sure when that got there, either.</p>
<p>Kessel breathed in, collapsed on himself and a husk in his breath.</p>
<p>Dick grabbed his hair and pulled his head back, “anything you want to tell me?”</p>
<p>Kessel laughed, “I’ve… got to admit,” he took a deep breath, wincing, “not bad kid.”</p>
<p>Dick glared.</p>
<p>“but you’re not gonna kill me.”</p>
<p>“Oh, I will, but nothing I do will make you believe that,” Dick smiled beneath his mask, knowing the gleam in his eye would give it away, “but I’m sure you can believe that you won’t leave this room unscathed.”</p>
<p>He let go of Kessel’s hair and stood back, unsheathing his sword and letting his dagger stay loose in his left hand, “how often do you use your right leg?”</p>
<p>Kessel’s eyes blew wide.</p>
<p>Dick hovered his sword over Kessel’s shoulder, “or maybe you’d prefer to lose your arm?”</p>
<p>Kessel’s voice shook as he said, “I don’t- uh, you- well.”</p>
<p>Dick didn’t wait for an answer, he stabbed his sword into his shoulder, right below the joint, safely avoiding the artery.</p>
<p>Kessel shrieked. Dick watched, noticing how Slade turned to the window. Isabel fluttered on the couch.</p>
<p>“how about I chop off all your limbs and dump you at the nearest hospital, let them decide what to do with you?”</p>
<p>He wouldn’t. the mission was very clearly to kill him, getting information was a bonus. But Kessel wasn’t scared of dying, he was scared of his boss. But more importantly, he liked his life the way it was. If he believed Dick would completely ruin the way he liked it, but not give him the satisfaction of dying, he’d hand over the information in favour of keeping his normal life. Or dying. Whichever seemed better.</p>
<p>Dick twisted his sword. Kessel whined, actually <em>whined</em>.</p>
<p>“I- can’t, no,” Kessel grunted, “fuck you.”</p>
<p>Dick rolled his eyes and pulled out his sword.</p>
<p>“if that’s how it is,” Dick said and stabbed his sword into Kessel’s thigh, right next to where Slade’s dagger had gone not too long ago.</p>
<p>Kessel shrieked. Dick put more weight on his sword. It had almost definitely hit the artery at this point.</p>
<p>As Dick wrenched it out Kessel coughed, trying to shake off the pain.</p>
<p>“fine,” Kessel got out through clenched teeth.</p>
<p>Dick grabbed his hair once more, glaring and holding his hilt tight, “talk.”</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>
<a id="_Toc51932389" name="_Toc51932389"></a>End of an Era</h2>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Kaldur stood at attention, watching as his teammates lined up as well.</p>
<p>Batman stood before them, arms crossed, Canary as well.</p>
<p>“what’s our mission?” Zatanna asked, clearly excited. She’d been looking for distractions as of late, they were coming up on the anniversary of Robin disappearing and Wally walking away from all of them.</p>
<p>“there is no mission, we’re here to break some…” Canary trailed off, glancing at Batman, “unfortunate news.”</p>
<p>Batman took the lead, “it’s been a year…” but not even he seemed to know how to say what they needed to, “the search for robin has been closed.”</p>
<p>Kaldur tensed, looking between the team’s mentors, “what?”</p>
<p>“his secret identity was also being searched for, the police have put the case to bed, according to them he is…” Canary sighed, “legally dead.”</p>
<p>“there is no way,” Conner grit his teeth, “there is no way Robin is dead, we can’t give up on him.”</p>
<p>“we aren’t,” batman said, “but the league will no longer be putting their resources into finding him.”</p>
<p>“so you’ve found someone to make your replacement and now you’ve given up on Robin?” Artemis hissed.</p>
<p>Batman glared. “we have no more information to bring you. No mission.” He turned and walked away, unfaltering.</p>
<p>Canary looked between the team and Batman. she sighed, “I’m sorry guys.”</p>
<p>“no you’re not,” Kaldur said.</p>
<p>Everyone’s face whipped to him, Batman froze.</p>
<p>Kaldur glared at Canary and then at batman’s back. he turned and walked away.</p>
<p>As he exited the room he heard the zeta tubes fire up, Batman and Canary exiting the mountain. His teammates didn’t follow. Kaldur walked, alone, to the beach outside the mountain, the night sky dark above him, the city’s lights removing any chance of seeing the stars.</p>
<p>He stood in the water, letting it rise to his knees, pushing against his shins.</p>
<p>Years ago he’d left the ocean to be a hero and save people, and he would never go back on that decision. He’d met so many people and made amazing friends as Aqualad. And now he was slowly losing them all. One by one.</p>
<p>He would not quit the team they had made together, would not abandon the legacies left behind. He’d build them up. Wally had left because he lost hope in what they were striving for, thinking he had to do it on his own. Kaldur begged to differ.</p>
<p>He’d make the team what it was supposed to be, for his friends.</p>
<p>Their motley crew of four, Roy and Kaldur and Wally and Robin, friends that had grown up together. He would stay behind so that their time, their past, was not forgotten.</p>
<p>It still mattered to him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dick turned the tap off, drying his hands with a towel that he tossed into the basket under the sink. He’d managed to clean off all the blood he could without stripping off and getting in a shower. He just had to look semi-presentable so he could walk down the halls to his room.</p>
<p>“quite the mess on your gear tonight,” Duvall said as he walked by, noticing his gear in the basket he’d take to his room so he could clean and maintain it.</p>
<p>Dick shrugged, “wasn’t all that eventful.”</p>
<p>Duvall nodded then gave Isa a smile of acknowledgment. He walked away, leaving Dick at the cleaning station. Dick didn’t watch as he went inside, instead glancing at the open sky above the helicopter pad, slowly becoming brighter.</p>
<p>Slade finished at the other sink, looking much less bulky without all his armour.</p>
<p>Isa fluttered onto Dick’s arm and he absentmindedly scratched behind her head, turning towards the door.</p>
<p>Slade spoke before he was too far away, “the court of owls.”</p>
<p>Dick stopped, looked at Slade over his shoulder.</p>
<p>Slade continued, “how’d you get the bird from them?”</p>
<p>Dick was quiet, “she followed me, actually.”</p>
<p>“why?”</p>
<p>Dick glanced at the sky again, dawn was growing ever closer.</p>
<p>“because I needed a way out of their maze.”</p>
<p>“why were you <em>in their labyrinth.</em>” Slade said, taking a step closer.</p>
<p>Dick was quiet. His face didn’t change, for all Slade could tell he was completely emotionless. Inside, he was thinking of the feeling of a scalpel dragging across his neck.</p>
<p>“I went investigating.”</p>
<p>“why?”</p>
<p>“why do you care?”</p>
<p>“because I didn’t take you for the insane type.”</p>
<p>Dick studied Slade, behind him the sun grew closer to the horizon, tiny bits of light silhouetting Slade’s silver hair.</p>
<p>Eventually Dick decided to tell him. it wasn’t like there was a good reason for Slade to not know.</p>
<p>“I was supposed to be one of their Talons. Before their whole society was utterly destroyed.”</p>
<p>Slade watched him, processing but also trying to decide whether or not he believed Dick.</p>
<p>Dick gave him a shrug, Isa made an annoyed sound at the movement. Dick turned and walked away.</p>
<p>Slade had been convinced.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p>Dick crashed on his bed and allowed himself a nap, so that he’d had some sleep in the past 24 hours. By the time he’d gotten up and had some breakfast it was 8:30, and he headed to his sister’s room.</p>
<p>He peeked in and she wasn’t there, but the door to her ensuite was cracked open and a light was on.</p>
<p>Dick sighed. It had been one of those nights.</p>
<p>He opened the door a bit further and turned off the bright light, instead flicking on the tiny warm-toned light next to the mirror. He picked up the syringe by Alex’s arm, with a tissue, and placed it on the counter.</p>
<p>“morning,” he murmured, noticing Alex’s eyelids slightly cracked open.</p>
<p>She groaned a response.</p>
<p>Dick kept his steps quiet and his demeanour unobtrusive. He found the stuffed toy on the shelf in her room and handed it to her.</p>
<p>“peanut says it’s gonna get better in a bit,” Dick said.</p>
<p>Alex made a face but still cuddled the stuffed elephant to her chest, “peanut’s… not a doctor,” she slurred.</p>
<p>“about when?”</p>
<p>“like… 2:30. Tooth hurty.”</p>
<p>Dick smiled slightly. That was about when he’d finished carving up Kessel.</p>
<p>“how much.” If he knew how much she’d injected herself with he could figure out how much longer she had till she was down enough to let Thalia see her.</p>
<p>“like… one.”</p>
<p>“one drug?”</p>
<p>“One singular drug.” She smiled slightly.</p>
<p>“amazing,” dick said dryly. It couldn’t have been too much, Dick had only found one syringe. She was probably almost lucid.</p>
<p>Alex snickered a bit then winced.</p>
<p>“do you want some water?”</p>
<p>“yup.”</p>
<p>Dick got her a glass of water, half full, and a muesli bar. An extra one for him.</p>
<p>He didn’t have to tell her to go slow, she knew. This had happened enough. Dick leaned against the wall, adjacent to her leaning against the bathtub.</p>
<p>After a bit Dick spoke again.</p>
<p>“what was it this time?”</p>
<p>Alex shrugged dejectedly, “just needed to.”</p>
<p>Dick nodded.</p>
<p>“nightmares?”</p>
<p>“just the usual one.”</p>
<p>The Lazarus pits.</p>
<p>Dick swallowed. When Alex had told him the story, the horrific battle as she protected Thalia from a rival assassin group, Dick had thought nothing too worrisome about it. yes she’d been badly injured, but that wasn’t uncommon.</p>
<p>He didn’t realise she’d been killed. Thalia had had to put her in the pits.</p>
<p>Dick glanced at the syringe, sitting on the bench next to the sink. There was still a slight green haze to it.</p>
<p>“you can’t keep doing this to yourself.”</p>
<p>“I beg to differ.”</p>
<p>“Alex,” Dick tried.</p>
<p>“Dick,” she said in the exact same tone.</p>
<p>Dick sighed and looked away.</p>
<p>There were all kinds of aftereffects to going in the pits. What you got depended on all kinds of things. Alex had this one. The nightmares and insanity of leaving the pits had driven her to dive back in, just a week later. Thalia had been trying to get her past it, but it wasn’t a straight path to recovery.</p>
<p>And, in the end, chemically altered Lazarus was better than the real thing. It gave the high and got rid of the itch, without the possible damage the pits could cause by being exposed without injury.</p>
<p>“how’d your mission go? I heard Slade went along.”</p>
<p>“yeah,” Dick said with a shrug, “he was annoying, but he’s off my back now.”</p>
<p>Alex nodded.</p>
<p>“Thalia was considering asking him to train you.”</p>
<p>Dick raised an eyebrow.</p>
<p>“he thought you couldn’t be trusted cause of who trained you, so…” she shrugged, “why not let him be convinced?”</p>
<p>Dick shrugged, “it’d be educational.”</p>
<p>“yeah, and I wouldn’t have to train you.”</p>
<p>Dick feigned insult.</p>
<p>“hey, I don’t wanna train you, you’re too snarky,” she grinned, “plus, mentors need to be way more strict than I will ever be on you.”</p>
<p>“ever the nepotist.”</p>
<p>“how dare.”</p>
<p>Dick cackled.</p>
<p>“besides,” Alex shrugged, “I’d rather spend my time with you playing video games or something… sibling stuff.”</p>
<p>“that’s fair.” Dick shrugged, “honestly, I’m the same.”</p>
<p>“wooo,” Alex mumbled with no enthusiasm.</p>
<p>Dick chuckled, “need a hand getting to your bed?”</p>
<p>“absolutely.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<h2>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932390" name="_Toc51932390"></a>Wally’s Turn at Turmoil</strong>
</h2>
<p>For the first time in the past hour, Wally stopped.</p>
<p>He breathed in, he breathed out. His muscles were still taught and everything <em>hurt</em>, and his head was buzzing.</p>
<p>But Zoom was gone.</p>
<p>Wally stared at the spot where he’d disappeared, absorbed by the speed force. The grass had turned black, slowly becoming less and less dead until it became green under his feet. Around him the city was in havoc, a few buildings on fire, a helicopter had crashed, the hospital had been completely cut off from power and… Wally wasn’t sure, but he might have brought the top half of a skyscraper down. Zoom had slammed him into something pretty hard, and his vision had gone hazy but he was pretty sure he remembered dodging a giant falling structure.</p>
<p>As he finally allowed himself to stop ignoring everything, he was washed over with immense amounts of pain.</p>
<p>Yeah, that was probably the skyscraper.</p>
<p>He groaned, letting himself fall to his knees and catch his breath. Just one second then he’d be up. He had to head in to the shop tomorrow, Pozzo had like three cars in that needed fixing. And he had assignments to hand in in a week.</p>
<p>But he needed like, two seconds, that was it. then he’d be up. He just needed a moment.</p>
<p>Evidently he wasn’t going to get it.</p>
<p>A helicopter swooped in overhead, Wally wasn’t looking at it but if he did he’d see it was for a news broadcast. Someone with a camera was leaning out the window like an idiot.</p>
<p>As Zoom failed to reappear, people began to jump over the police barricade that had been set up. Just one or two, then a bunch, then the cops were on them and cutting them off.</p>
<p>But a bunch of reporters swarmed, and Wally knew he should get up and run off before any of them could get close. Dealing with reporters was never fun and he didn’t trust himself not to give information away.</p>
<p>But he was so damn tired.</p>
<p>As a reporter got close Wally readied himself. He should stand up, he she smile, he physically couldn’t.</p>
<p>“QuickStart! QuickStart!”</p>
<p>Oh he hated that name so much. He hadn’t chosen it, the news started calling him that.</p>
<p>Maybe he could just collapse, lay down and become the ground, that sounded fun.</p>
<p>“QuickStart what did-“</p>
<p>“move it!”</p>
<p>“but-“</p>
<p>“Get out of here! Give him some air!”</p>
<p>Wally frowned, before he could look up there was a hand at his elbow, pulling him to his feet. He wasn’t ready to stand, his legs gave way and the person holding him up almost let him fall. He grabbed him around Wally’s back, swinging the other arm over his shoulder. Wally didn’t even think, he sunk into the crutch.</p>
<p>“of with ya! The JCPD will have a statement from him for you by tomorrow morning!”</p>
<p>Wally really wanted to pass out, but he checked who was carrying him first.</p>
<p>“Joe?”</p>
<p>“Easy QuickStart, take a breath, I’ll get you away from this lot, just breathe.”</p>
<p>Wally blinked, mind working too slow to figure out why this man was helping him. This was commissioner Joe West, from the Jump City Police Department. This was his great uncle, as in <em>Iris’s dad. </em></p>
<p>What a coincidence.</p>
<p>He’d avoided him the past year as Wally, as QuickStart he’d seen the man a few times.</p>
<p>Either way, Joe brought him to an unmarked police car, likely his own, and helped him into the passenger seat.</p>
<p>Wally passed out.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Wally woke up in his great uncle’s house.</p>
<p>For a moment he didn’t remember what happened, but he figured it out when he saw he was still in his suit. His mask was still secure over his face. His faster healing had brought everything to aches and bruises at this point, although maybe he was still healing from an injured rib. He wasn’t sure, he wasn’t a doctor.</p>
<p>He cracked his eyelids open, wincing as he moved an arm, a glass of water was shoved into his face. He blinked at it and looked up to the person offering it, his great aunt.</p>
<p>“come on dearie, up you get.”</p>
<p>He forced himself up and accepted the glass with a ‘thank you’ clearing his throat afterwards.</p>
<p>“I’ll go get Joe,” she said.</p>
<p>Wally sat up, a hand to his head. he watched as Joe walked in.</p>
<p>“I, uh, hope you don’t mind. The hospital was full and chaotic enough as is,” he said as he sat down on a chair. Wally finally noticed he was in a lounge room, sprawled across a couch.</p>
<p>“not at all, thank you,” Wally said, trying to figure out how to handle this.</p>
<p>Barry had only told a few family members, Iris’s parents didn’t know. Not for any reason other than they didn’t <em>have</em> to.</p>
<p>“you did damn well, kid,” Joe said, “the whole city should be thanking you.”</p>
<p>“that’s not why I do it.”</p>
<p>Joe nodded, face contemplative.</p>
<p>“ask.”</p>
<p>Joe raised an eyebrow.</p>
<p>“I can tell you want to ask me something, go ahead.”</p>
<p>Joe smiled a small bit, “why do you do it?”</p>
<p>Wally pursed his lips, “because I can,” he shrugged, “I’ve got this power, if I don’t use it then what’s it for?”</p>
<p>“you could become the world’s fastest sprinter.”</p>
<p>“I suppose,” Wally snickered, shaking his head, “but no. I… I have a duty to uphold. This world would be amazing if everyone with the power to help, did so.”</p>
<p>Joe nodded, “you remind me of someone, my son-in-law, you’d get on well.”</p>
<p>Wally snorted. Joe gave him a funny look.</p>
<p>Wally shook his head, “you have no idea how right you are.”</p>
<p>Joe frowned, clearly wanting to ask what he meant. Wally just smiled.</p>
<p>“I have to go,” he said.</p>
<p>“of course, the reporters await.”</p>
<p>“no, I have… work,” Wally sighed.</p>
<p>“I’d take a break if I were you,” Joe said.</p>
<p>“can’t let on,” Wally smiled.</p>
<p>“I think enough people got injured today that it won’t be obvious.”</p>
<p>“not taking that chance,” he said as he stood.</p>
<p>“wait-“</p>
<p>And Wally sped away.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Okay so, Dick gets back from his mission, has a nap, etcetera, then decides to go check up on his sister. <br/>Important fact about her: before Dick showed up, Alex was on a mission with Thalia wherein they were attacked and Alex was wounded badly enough to be killed. Thalia, of course, put her in the Lazarus Pits. the after-effects caused Alex to become addicted to the effects. to try and help her cope Thalia has found a way to take Lazarus and alter it so that Alex can safely live with the addiction without turning insane or losing memories or having any other side effects from being exposed without any injuries to heal.<br/>Dick checks up on her to find her coming down from her high, having attempted to chase away her nightmares about being resurrected, and thus sits with her and helps her. She mentions, once she's more lucid, that she'll be passing Dick's training on to Slade, because she feels she can't adequately teach her own brother due to wanting to hold back and go easy on him. <br/>Dick feels guilty he wasn't able to be there to help her cope without using the Lazarus, nor was he there to watch over her in case the high turned sour, but he's here now so he'll do his best.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Another Real Quick Time Skip</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Second Robin is dead, Dick is about to get a bit of a promotion, which leads to an angst-filled night and Wally's life is starting to look like it's in a bit of danger.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Okay so, the first part of the area subtitled 'Mandatory Emotional Baggage' is a trippy nightmare scene that might make some readers uncomfortable because of depictions of horrific skin-crawling gross-ness. so if you're not one for that kinda stuff, just skip the italicized part of that area.<br/>It's just a guilt trip nightmare, not really anything you'd need catching up on. Dick's mum shows up and tells him everything's his fault and that he's never been able to save anyone and all that jazz. basically just blames him for her death, but she's not real, she's just a nightmare hallucination of Dick's guilt-complex and inability to accept he can make mistakes. her skin falls off and she gets all corpsified before his eyes, just another Tuesday morning, you know?</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932391" name="_Toc51932391"></a>Another Real Quick Time skip</strong>
</h1>
<p> </p>
<h2>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932392" name="_Toc51932392"></a>A Family tie</strong>
</h2>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dick lined up the sight of the rifle.</p>
<p>He zeroed it in, finger hovering over the trigger, as he moved the angle of the firearm just slightly. he breathed out, slowly, eying the people below through the glass.</p>
<p>And he landed on his target. Allen Drewmore. He didn’t much so matter as a person, it was his position that was important. The Light needed to get people into high up powerful positions, and the league of assassins would take care of it for them.</p>
<p>Which meant Dick was technically working for the Light.</p>
<p>He didn’t know how he felt about that. The light was… well, he didn’t subscribe to their beliefs. But work was work and he honestly didn’t give a damn anymore. No matter who was in charge of the world there was always something wrong. Dick’s job wasn’t pertaining to government officials, he looked after the bloodthirsty villains.</p>
<p>But whatever, he had orders. He had no real reason to leave as of yet, and plenty of reasons to stay. The light was questionable, but they hadn’t done anything too crazy yet. It’s not like they were bartering the entire earth for power or something.</p>
<p>So he did his damn job. Even though that meant slogging through Bruce Wayne’s speech about the importance of education and supporting those who seek to further themselves. Dick agreed with the message, but it was coming out of Bruce’s mouth so Dick couldn’t help but roll his eyes.</p>
<p>And if it was because he was guarding himself from feeling badly about Jason Todd’s death… well, he wouldn’t let on.</p>
<p>Bruce had funded a new building on the local college’s campus, it had been named after Jason as a memorial. The guy had died just three months ago and Bruce was very clearly still emotional about it.</p>
<p>Dick hadn’t even known him and he was emotional. Although that was because he felt slightly at fault. It was his legacy that Jason was following, he’d died in Dick’s name.</p>
<p>And to the joker. Dick couldn’t imagine anything worse.</p>
<p>But he wasn’t thinking about that. Definitely not.</p>
<p>So he waited till the speech was over and people were spreading out and conversing. Then he focused the sight on Allen Drewmore, the state official, and he fired.</p>
<p>The crowd turned terrified, screams rising, panic ensuing.</p>
<p>Typical.</p>
<p>Someone would figure out the angle and send someone up to where he was soon. He flicked the safety on and swung the weapon over his shoulder, making sure it was tight against his chest so it wouldn’t swing around while he ran.</p>
<p>He turned and bolted.</p>
<p>“Duvall, are you in position.”</p>
<p><em>“of course, sir,” </em>Duvall answered, <em>“shall I move to phase two?”</em></p>
<p>“I’d appreciate it!”</p>
<p>Dick jumped from the building and grappled to the next. If his estimate was right he had about twenty minutes before Bruce was done quick-changing. He had to be in the helicopter by then.</p>
<p>But also he had to shake off any followers before then, they couldn’t see the helicopter. They’d know he had an accomplice, which would make the case look more suspicious.</p>
<p>Especially if they got a good look at him. he was nineteen which meant he was tall and definitely no longer looked like a child. But he was lean and didn’t exactly look like the usual run-of-the-mill dark-web assassin. Especially in his gear, which was anything but ordinary.</p>
<p>So he grappled to another building, moving with ease throughout the streets, till suddenly someone attacked him from the side.</p>
<p>He rolled, just a centimetre from the edge, but stood before he’d even stopped moving.</p>
<p>And he was face-to-face with Batgirl.</p>
<p>Great.</p>
<p>He’d heard rumours, but found no evidence. She’d apparently been skulking for a few years, not long before Jason Todd became Robin.</p>
<p>Well, here was his evidence.</p>
<p>She attacked, she fought well. Batman had definitely trained her. He’d considered the idea that she wasn’t affiliated with him and had just started fighting because she could.</p>
<p>But this was taking way too long. He managed to use her momentum to throw her, she flipped and turned back to him.</p>
<p>Dick slid his sword from his sheath, enjoying its familiar weight in his hand.</p>
<p>“who are you?” Batgirl asked. And Dick felt… did he know her? She sounded familiar.</p>
<p>Dick smirked, bottom half of his face hidden behind the mask, “no one you’d know.”</p>
<p>He didn’t give her a chance to prepare herself, moving in to attack. She flicked out a bo staff to protect herself.</p>
<p>He twisted under any hit she gave, never allowing her to gain the advantage. He stayed on the offensive and she slowly crumbled in her defence.</p>
<p>He didn’t have time for this.</p>
<p>After his great grandfather’s attempt at turning him into a talon he’d had accelerated healing, but sometimes when he was particularly panic-y or in need of a boost, he felt a… well, he assumed it was some kind of affect from Cobb’s meddling.</p>
<p>As soon as Slade noticed he’d started training Dick to be able to harness that. Now he reached for it and turned to Batgirl, feeling a new energy thrum through him. a calm settled over him. his breath was relaxed, every movement turned precise.</p>
<p>He flicked between a hit and landed three fast ones of his own. He tripped her up and she rolled back to standing, turning back with ease.</p>
<p>He twisted out of a hit, instead of attacking he hooked his sword around her staff and used it to pull her closer. He wacked her under the chin with the pommel then elbowed under her shoulder, she dropped the staff with that hand and he kicked her leg out from under her.</p>
<p>He didn’t wait for her to get up, he jumped back as he slid his sword away. As she stumbled up he jumped off the roof, vanishing.</p>
<p>He met Duvall, hovering near the top of a building. He jumped without hesitation, the door was open and he stumbled through, grabbing the handle nearby and swinging himself into the seat. His arm was sore from the impact, but at least he hadn’t fallen into the other side’s door.</p>
<p>He swung his side closed and tossed the rifle onto the seat, then buckled himself in and placed the helmet over his head.</p>
<p><em>“any problems?” </em>Duvall asked over the comms of the helmet, the sound of the helicopter distant but still present behind the noise proof headset in the helmet.</p>
<p>“a small interruption on the escape, nothing to worry about,” he answered.</p>
<p>A successful mission, plus proof of the rumoured Batgirl. Nothing to worry about indeed.</p>
<p>“then you’ll be able to make the parade without trouble.”</p>
<p>Dick’s heart stopped, the parade.</p>
<p>Fuck, he’d forgotten about the parade.</p>
<p>Duvall’s cackling reminded Dick to watch his expression, he forced the scowl from his face.</p>
<p>“chin up, Master Grayson, it’s your ceremony after all.”</p>
<p>That did little to make him happy.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>“do you swear to protect, to guard and to aid; to support and encourage; to guide and defend?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“I swear it.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“do you swear to adhere to the laws of the League, to live as a citizen of our community, as an independent but also as a member?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“I swear it.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“do you give your life in service to your fellow man, to your people and to the League?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“I swear it.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“and do you, Richard John Grayson, give your name in service to the Al Ghul line and all other leading lines of the League?”</em>
</p>
<p><em>“I, Richard John Grayson, pledge my strength, skill, knowledge and name to the Al Ghul line and all other League families,” </em>Dick did not break eye contact with Ra’s, his fist over his heart as he knelt before the Demon’s Head, <em>“to fight and protect till I can no longer.”</em></p>
<p><em>“then I, Ra’s Al Ghul, as representative of the Demon himself, as head of the League, name you, Richard John Grayson,” </em>Ra’s took the sword offered by Thalia, balancing the sheathed blade across his hands, <em>“as a noble guard of the League of Assassins.”</em></p>
<p>Dick stood, the ceremonial armour and robes shifting as he took the offered sword from Ra’s, he bowed a final time and turned to the gathered parade. As they applauded Dick couldn’t fight the smile on his face.</p>
<p>He glanced over to Alex, her grin was contagious. Standing behind his nanny’s legs, Damian watched on in contemplative glee, probably only just grasping what was going on.</p>
<p>Ra’s stood behind him, murmured a, “welcome to the family.”</p>
<p>Thalia’s hand fell on his shoulder, “we’ll try not to make it too crazy.”</p>
<p>“no promises,” Alex grinned.</p>
<p>“of course not.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He pulled the armour off first chance he got.</p>
<p>After the usual feast and celebration he and Alex snuck away, hiding out in the wing of the main building that held their rooms. Really the ‘main building’ was a palace, but when everything except a few outcroppings is underground the nobility of such a building tends to be lost.</p>
<p>He and Alex changed into more comfortable clothing in their own rooms and then met up in the halls.</p>
<p>“Come on, I’ve got something to show you,” she said, grabbing hold of his wrist and pulling him along.</p>
<p>“Where are we going?”</p>
<p>“It’s a surprise,” she grinned, “figured I’d get you a present.”</p>
<p>Dick snickered, “some money in a card would be enough.”</p>
<p>“hilarious.”</p>
<p>She lead him to the training wing, where several rooms were filled with gym equipment and others with training mats and others all manner of equipment for all kinds of fighting styles. She dragged him all the way to a door that lead to an outcropping of the mountain. Dick had been there, it was just a huge overhang of rock with a nice view. It could have been a landing bay or something of the sort if it wasn’t on the opposite end of the palace.</p>
<p>Alex gestured dramatically and swung the large wooden door open, “after you.”</p>
<p>Dick stepped out, recognising the giant rock features above him and the walls of stone. It was, more or less, a pocket of space tucked into the face of the rock.</p>
<p>But where there was usually empty space something else had been placed. Wires and poles making up a giant structure.</p>
<p>“I talked to Mother about it a while ago, it took a bit of time to actually happen,” she said, arms crossed as she stood in the doorway, “finished right on time.”</p>
<p>Dick looked back at her, “did you seriously get me a <em>trapeze</em>.”</p>
<p>Alex grinned, “it was annoying to constantly have to visit gyms across the world, this is easier.”</p>
<p>Dick laughed and ran closer to the trapeze, looking at all the features and pieces, “this is awesome.”</p>
<p>“I know.”</p>
<p>“I hate you so much right now,” Dick said, still smiling, “do you have any idea how hard this’ll be to one-up when your birthday comes around?”</p>
<p>Alex snorted a laugh. Dick eyed the wires, mesmerized.</p>
<p>“figured I’d get you something to make you happy,” Alex said, face dropping, “seeing as now, as an official guard, you’ll be stuck going to meetings and accompanying people to stuff.”</p>
<p>Dick scrunched his nose, that was a definitive downside. He wondered how his father was able to deal with it, he’d always known him to be incapable of staying still.</p>
<p>“which means dealing with all the annoying wannabe supervillains the league does dealings with,” Dick grumbled, “including the Light.”</p>
<p>Alex snorted, “they’re all a bunch of idiots. I’m not surprised you and your teen hero team could beat them.”</p>
<p>Dick pursed his lips. Ah yes, his teen hero team.</p>
<p>He wondered what they were doing now. He’d tried the past three years to foster up some dislike towards his former best buddies, but he couldn’t. his qualms were with batman and the methods of the League. He didn’t hate his friends, he just thought everything they fought for would wind up fruitless. You lock a supervillain away, they break out, they kill people, the cycle begins and feeds into itself.</p>
<p>At least the League of Assassins actually rid the world of filth, they just got rid of the problem. Sometimes it was self-serving, sure. But a lot of the people the Justice League considered harmful to society were also considered such from the League of Assassins point of view. They were just more willing to work with the villains to get what they wanted, the heroes had decided to give themselves a rule book no one else was bothering to read.</p>
<p>“Dick?”</p>
<p>He snapped back.</p>
<p>“you spaced for a moment there,” Alex grinned, “did you sneak something from my stash?”</p>
<p>Dick made a face at her, “I’m just thinking.”</p>
<p>“don’t do that too hard you’ll hurt yourself.”</p>
<p>“Oh you wanna go?”</p>
<p>They snorted and laughed as they started throwing punches, Dick handsprung away dramatically and Alex called it cheating, Dick made a face at her and ran before she could grab him. they sprinted back inside, down the hall and into a training room. Dick side stepped out of a hit and they circled each other for one second before Alex dived for his legs.</p>
<p>They trained often, with all the grace that came with their years of experience, but sometimes they preferred rough housing.</p>
<p>After a while they rolled, Alex locking Dick’s head in a grip, and found a pair of feet in their vision.</p>
<p>They looked up, and it was Thalia.</p>
<p>“you’re trained assassins,” she said smoothly, “and you resort to common street fighting?”</p>
<p>The two laughed as they extricated themselves and stood. Damian was in Thalia’s arms, grinning.</p>
<p>“I showed Dick the trapeze,” Alex grinned.</p>
<p>“does it meet the standard?”</p>
<p>“of course,” Dick said, “thank you.”</p>
<p>If Thalia were not such a formal person she’d have shrugged, “it was not a problem.”</p>
<p>“so, something going on, or…”</p>
<p>“the light wishes for a meeting, face-to-face.” Thalia answered her daughter, “I’ve sent you the coordinates of the meeting place, familiarise yourselves. The usual people will be there, ensure you’re up-to-date. We leave tomorrow at 1600 hours.”</p>
<p>The two nodded and took the dismissal. Dick shot Damian a grin as he left.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<h2>
<a id="_Toc51932393" name="_Toc51932393"></a><strong>Mandatory Emotional Baggage</strong>
</h2>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>This wasn’t the Lazarus pits.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>He had not been in the pits himself, but even he knew what they looked like. He’d been injured so badly once that he’d been bedridden. The medicine in Nanda Parbat was just as leading edge as everywhere else but they had one thing over everyone else- Lazarus. They watered it down and changed it into their own medical miracle.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>So yes, he’d felt Lazarus. This was not Lazarus. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>His throat tickled and itched, he pressed his hand against it. it came away smudged in red, a trail following in the liquid he was submerged in.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>It was tinged with some kind of cold colour, he couldn’t figure it out. As his hand drifted forward it hit a glass surface. A wall. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>He finally realised he was underwater, or whatever this was, and his lungs seized. He panicked. He couldn’t breathe. His head forced him to breathe in and he struggled, hands flying out looking for an exit. As he choked, as his lungs filled with liquid, he was wrenched from the water.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>He coughed, spluttered, rivulets of water running down the sides of his face. Arms circled him from behind, embracing him across the chest.</em>
</p>
<p><em>“</em>what<em>?”</em></p>
<p>
  <em>The word flew out of him as soon as he got his bearings.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“ssh,” a low voice murmured beside his ear, “it’s finished now, you’re one of us.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Dick hit the arms around him away and turned, a corpse stood before him. skin pale and limbs stiff with rigor mortis, hair stringy, nails knurled and cracked eyes rimmed in dark circles and red lines running through the whites…</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>And shining gold irises.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The face was his mother’s. his mother, dead but in a… preserved way. The cold deathly beauty of the afterlife.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>A breath rushed out of him as he stumbled back. this wasn’t his mother, it couldn’t be, it couldn’t be, it couldn’t be.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“this is impossible.” the sound was half air.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“of course it’s possible,” as the word left her mouth it echoed, possible, possible, possible, as it hit his ears again it became impossible, “with the blessing of the court,” Mary Grayson’s face dropped from sweetness to sadness, “Dick, my little Robin, please, come back to me. Why have you forsaken your family? Your destiny?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Dick’s hands turned to fists, “you’re not real! You’re not my mother!” he grit his teeth, “my mother never wanted me to be a talon!”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Mary Grayson’s expression turned sour.</em>
</p>
<p><em>“little Robin, be smart about this,” she hissed, “without the court you will lose your family, you will lose </em>me<em>.”</em></p>
<p>
  <em>“my mother is always with me, you are not my mother,” he said.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Mary glared, “no,” she stepped forwards, “this is your mother.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>As her foot hit the ground her ankle snapped, her knee twisted, the skin of her leg crumpled and turned rotten, the slimy cascading clumps of skin trailed up to her torso. With the rot her hips twisted, ribs cracked, her spine twisted and snapped and she hunched.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Dick stepped back, eyes wide, he was going to be sick.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>But his fake mother followed, her neck twisted, her eyes turned back to blue, tears falling until they became streaks of blood down her cheeks, dripping down her chin by pale rot that used to be lips and now gave way to missing teeth and a yellow jaw bone.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Dick…” his mother gasped, “Dick, what have you done to me?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Dick’s stomach heaved and he felt like he was back in the water, unable to breath.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Dick, why didn’t you save me?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Dick backed up and his heels hit an edge, he gasped as he glanced down, darkness stretched before him.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>A hand fell onto his chest, rotten skin crumbled off and became a yellowed bone, a skeletal hand clung onto him. Dick shook his head as he tried to wrench the hand off, it wouldn’t. his mother’s corpse latched its other hand onto his shoulder.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“I’m sorry.” He gagged out, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“sorry doesn’t bring me back!” the skeleton hissed, clawed bones latched around his neck, “sorry doesn’t bring anyone back!”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Dick’s tears were dripping onto the bones around his neck, he couldn’t move, he was frozen, the grip his mother had on him wouldn’t come undone.</em>
</p>
<p><em>“sorry doesn’t change </em>anything<em>!”</em></p>
<p>
  <em>And she pushed him off the edge.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“you’ve never been able to change anything!” the voice followed him as he fell. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Falling. Falling, falling, falling. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Rock appeared around him, green tinged and glowing. Dick couldn’t see what was below him, but he recognised the smell and the feel of the Lazarus pits.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>His ankles hit the water-</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He woke up, sweating and tied up in his sheets. He had barely come back to himself before he had to push himself over the side of the bed, falling off the sheets and stumbling down from the short platform the bed was on and onto the wood floor of the sitting area in his room. He threw up everything in him. body shaking and covered in sweat, his spine tingled and his throat felt sore, he changed from hot-to-cold between each second.</p>
<p>He threw up once more and managed to push himself a metre away before he collapsed. His chest shook as he heaved a breath in.</p>
<p>What the hell was that?</p>
<p>He wanted to have a shower to get rid of the feeling of sweat and wash out his mouth and soothe the tremors he couldn’t stop, but at the idea of water he froze and felt like he was going to throw up again. He took some deep breaths and held a hand against his forehead. It was slicked with sweat and burning hot.</p>
<p>He forced himself up and stumbled to the bathroom where he splashed his face with water and stared at the mirror. The dark circles under his eyes gave him flashes of his mother- no that was not his mother, that was…</p>
<p>He didn’t even know, but whatever that ghoulish monster was it would haunt him for a long while.</p>
<p>Dick rifled through his bathroom drawers, hands shaking. He made a mess of stuff, not caring about putting it back as he searched for a new toothbrush. He ripped open the packet, covered it in toothpaste and shoved it in his mouth. He scrubbed for way too long, but it cleaned out the vomit and the bad taste. He felt the need to clean everything about him after seeing the putrid state of the bones and skin in his dream. Even the natural off-white tinge of his teeth felt too close to the yellowed fangs of the dead spectre.</p>
<p>His legs shook as he stumbled out of his room, his gaze landed on the mess he’d made on the floor and he felt everything in him deflate. He could call a cleaner, there were plenty employed in the palace, several who regularly pulled night shifts. As much as it was their job that they got paid for, Dick didn’t want to be a hindrance. He also didn’t want to explain it.</p>
<p>And if he got someone in Thalia or Alex could find out.</p>
<p>But he really didn’t want to clean it himself. He was tired and his limbs were tired. His head was pounding.</p>
<p>He headed over to the end of the room and swung the window open, crawling up onto the small outcropping. The palace had the most rooms and exits that lead to the outside, seeing as it was built first.</p>
<p>Dick crossed his legs and leaned against the rock around the window. The breeze was nice, it would be too cold and give him hypothermia if he wasn’t careful, but for now he could enjoy the soothing nature. Besides, his healing would take care of it.</p>
<p>Isa fluttered by, sensing his distress most likely. She sat on his shoulder and nuzzled into his hair. Dick scratched behind her ears but soon found his arm too tired and let it drop. Isa seemed disappointed by the lack of scratches but also understanding.</p>
<p>He could see the lights of Kabul in the distance, just slightly. he’d been several times, he had to admit, he preferred it to Gotham.</p>
<p>There was the odd light in the rock, only just barely visible. Usually from the glow of someone’s lights, there were a few other buildings in Nanda Parbat that had the luck of real windows.</p>
<p>Dick took a deep breath, forcing his mind to calm down. He didn’t meditate often, so he wasn’t used to it, but he could manage it in a time like this.</p>
<p>Isa made a trilling sound, Dick translated it as questioning.</p>
<p>“It’s nothing, Isa,” he sighed, “just needed to remind myself of where I am.”</p>
<p><em>“it’s finished now, you’re one of us,” </em>the nightmare ghost had said. It couldn’t have been more wrong. The League of Assassins was nothing like the court.</p>
<p>“I just needed to remind myself of who I am.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<h2>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932394" name="_Toc51932394"></a>A Reminder</strong>
</h2>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Wally had been expecting many things when he walked into the shop that morning.</p>
<p>Tools everywhere, the pungent smell of metal and fuel, crashing and banging, the bald-spotted head of Johnny Pizzo welcoming him with a wave of his arthritic hands and pointing towards whatever car he had to fix.</p>
<p>He was not expecting five dead bodies, scorch marks and his great uncle staring at it all in confusion.</p>
<p>In other words he wasn’t expecting a crime scene.</p>
<p>Tape had been marked out around the building, the cracked cement had pooled water from the night’s shower and detectives and officers kept stepping in them, cars were parked around the building and for the first time ever all the machinery was parked where it was supposed to be.</p>
<p>Wally’s steps slowed as he drew closer, his hand fidgeting on the leather strap of his satchel. His great uncle noticed him and speed walked over to him.</p>
<p>“Wally, what are you doing here?” the words flew out of his mouth.</p>
<p>“I… work here,” Wally blinked at the crime scene, “what the hell happened?”</p>
<p>Joe stared at the scene then back to Wally, “we’re… not sure. How ‘bout you head home?”</p>
<p>Wally stared at the scorch marks, lightning shaped and spreading across the concrete. The bodies were singed and bleeding and steam was still rising off of them.</p>
<p>Wally felt like he was about to throw up.</p>
<p>“Zoom.”</p>
<p>Joe stared at him, “how’d you know?”</p>
<p>Wally blinked, voice choked as he said, “I have to go.”</p>
<p>“Wally-“</p>
<p>“see you around uncle!” he called it over his shoulder as he turned and booked it to his car.</p>
<p>Zoom was back. Zoom had attacked his day job- that couldn’t be a coincidence.</p>
<p>Oh shit, he was fucked.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Bee's Nest</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Dick is a new face to the Light, and his first appearance at one of their meetings unfolds about as one may expect.<br/>Meanwhile, Wally is having a bad time.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932395" name="_Toc51932395"></a>Bee’s Nest</strong>
</h1><p> </p><h2>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932396" name="_Toc51932396"></a>Trial Without Tribulation</strong>
</h2><p> </p><p>The plane landed and Dick was standing before the pilot even managed to be on his feet.</p><p>He and Alex gave the necessary orders to the small patrol of assassins they’d brought with them, they dispersed to the necessary places to check for snipers and any other possible attackers. Slade took his place at Ra’s side, hair plaited and pooling over the dropped hood of his uniform. Alex stood beside Thalia and Dick stood between, a small three-rowed parade that marched down the stairs of the plane. He noticed the shadow of Isa against the sky as she fluttered out a different entrance of the plane. Dick wasn’t sure why, but he didn’t want The Light knowing about her, it was a gut instinct that he was stubbornly choosing to follow.</p><p>The three guards filed behind Ra’s and Thalia as they were greeted by the Light’s welcoming party. Luthor smiled and over-dramatic-ised his splendour, Mercy at his side. Queen Bee levelled a cunning stare on them all.</p><p>They swept into Bee’s headquarters, an extravagant mansion nestled into the growth atop a mountain. Isa sat on a tree branch in the corner of Dick’s eye and he gave her a small smile as he passed- she’d fly past if anything was looking to go south. The entire front of the building flashed with tinted windows that gazed down on the scenery below. Queen Bee escorted them through elaborately decorated halls, lined with guards, wrists clanging with jewellery that draped fabric from her hands to her shoulders, as she strutted through her corridors a silk and chiffon trail fluttered from her waist.</p><p>“I’ll give you a tour afterwards, Thalia, I understand you also have an appreciation for post-renaissance oil painting,” Bee drawled, her voice somewhere between camaraderie and competition.</p><p>Thalia hummed as she gazed distastefully at a piece of chrome crockery displayed on a mahogany sideboard.</p><p>This all reminded Dick far too much of Bruce’s manor. He fought off a sneer as he stared at it all.</p><p>Luthor leaned over to Slade and made some comment with a smile, Slade’s face stayed impassive and Luthor cleared his throat as he rushed back to the front of the group to instead talk to Bee.</p><p>Slade missed a step so he could trail next to Dick, he murmured, “careful, they’re practically courtiers.”</p><p>Dick eyed a Persian rug strung up on a wall, immaculately cared for, “evidently.”</p><p>Eventually they came to a hall with several archways, silk curtains drawn on their sides, the arches opened to a long room with a table stretched across it, chairs pushed in and several people floating around. the arches perfectly framed the wall of windows that opened up on the scenery below. Table settings had been perfectly organised across the pearly white table cloths. Waiters stood between the arches, dressed well and holding jugs of drinks or plates of finger food.</p><p>Dick almost shuddered, this physically couldn’t be worse. Of all the places a meeting could be held it had to be at Queen Bee’s home, she didn’t know the meaning of ordinary or unobtrusive.</p><p>“ah, good to see everyone is here,” Savage said. He seemed to be enjoying himself, likely a man that enjoyed higher living. But Dick figured he still found something to be distasteful about in Bee’s manor.</p><p>The waiters drifted from their places and showed everyone their seats. Dick’s escort was about to seat him when Luthor drifted over.</p><p>“now whoever could this new visitor be?” he glanced to Thalia.</p><p>Dick made sure he was standing straight, his hands turned tight around themselves behind his back.</p><p>“Richard, I was recently appointed a guard.”</p><p>His last name had no meaning here. His last name was not important here. His mother’s history did not matter, and his father had no name. he was just Richard here. He could not let that slip.</p><p>Luthor smiled and offered him his hand, “brilliant, new blood!”</p><p>Richard shook his hand.</p><p>Luthor turned to Ra’s and let his hand drift behind Richard’s back, Dick fought the urge to slap it away, “could I steal him from you for tonight?”</p><p>Dick’s face remained impassive, he looked at Ra’s in a way he hoped communicated how much he did not want to sit next to Luthor, but without slipping the deadpan mask off it was difficult.</p><p>Ra’s raised an eyebrow, “losing faith in your mechanical masterpiece, Luthor?”</p><p>“I just want to truly welcome our new member, instead of leaving him silent at your side,” he smiled.</p><p>Ra’s let a flash of pity and apology break through as he glanced at Dick, it was his only warning, “of course, I’m sure he won’t mind.”</p><p>“of course you have to mess with my perfectly curtailed sitting,” Bee sighed as she took her place at the head of one end of the table. Savage sat down on the other end.</p><p>Luthor gave her a winning smile and guided Dick to the other side of the table, the windows at his back, he pulled out one chair for Dick and sat on his right, Mercy stood on his right and Luthor gestured for her to sit.</p><p>Dick paid attention to the conversations that were had. They were important and were good for him to be aware of. He, Slade and Thalia were not, however, there for input.</p><p>Eventually the conversation lulled, the official meeting had drawn to a close and now it was just conversation. People split themselves up along the table into their own talks.</p><p>At Dick’s left was Black manta and his chosen guard, then it was Bee at the head. across from them was Thalia and Ra’s, Slade on Ra’s left and Alex on Thalia’s right. Bee was wrapped up with charming Manta- who was somewhat new to the cause.</p><p>Luthor turned to Dick, twirling his wine inside his glass, “so, where did Ra’s find you from?”</p><p>“my father was in the league,” he answered smoothly, eying his own glass. He had decided he did not trust it.</p><p>“was?”</p><p>“he died quite a few years ago,” he said.</p><p>“and what brought you to such a prestigious position?”</p><p>Thalia took the chance to swoop in, “he is skilled and experienced,” she said evenly, cutting something on her plate, “in fact, he was the one who got me out alive when the league attacked our operations in France.”</p><p>Luthor looked on with a raised eyebrow, “impressive, I heard that was quite the…” he looked for a word, “tight situation.”</p><p>They’d had to run out through the labyrinth of thin tunnels in the mountain, the Justice League had come from the opening of the cave where they were working, the only back way out were tunnels cut years ago and never used. Dick had guided Thalia through the gap, knowing it could trap them, knowing it could lead to nothing, knowing that they could die down there. He’d fought people off four times, heroes and non-heroes, Thalia limping on a broken leg and nursing a dislocated shoulder.</p><p>They’d almost put him in the pits after that, he barely pulled through without it but he was adamant that he not be put in there. Not when he had to help his sister deal with the aftereffects so often.</p><p>It was the main thing, other than the usual, that he could use to fuel a hatred of the league. Thalia was his family, and their attack had almost killed her and several other people. It had not been a Light-related operation. In fact they’d been bringing supplies into the country for Arab and Middle-Eastern minority communities in France.</p><p>Unfortunately, the team had not been there, he couldn’t use it against them. Just the league. Although Batman had been strangely absent, as well.</p><p>Thalia’s hand tightened on her cutlery. She raised the food to her mouth as if Luthor had said nothing.</p><p>Dick and Alex exchanged a secret look, Dick thought that by the time this was over his jaw would be aching from how long it was spending clenched.</p><p>“it could have been much worse,” Dick said evenly, “the caves could have flooded.”</p><p>Luthor laughed and Thalia smiled.</p><p>“an optimist?” he asked Thalia.</p><p>She smiled, “no, a strategist. It’s good to know all the ways something can be worse.”</p><p>Luthor raised an eyebrow, “I prefer to look at the best possible outcomes.”</p><p>“well, I’m sure that’s all you’ve been given all your life,” Thalia said evenly. Luthor acted like it wasn’t a well disguised insult.</p><p>Dick saw a flash in the corner of his eye, just barely. He glanced out the window as nonchalantly as possible. Luthor still noticed.</p><p>“a beautiful view, isn’t it?” he turned in his seat to look, “you know, the rock this manor is cut into allowed Bee to discover many beautiful gems, rumour has it she hid them in the walls, hence the sunstone being used to build the structure.”</p><p>Dick raised an eyebrow and pretended to be interested, he used the chance to look out the window longer, trying to find the light he’d seen.</p><p>“sun stone?”</p><p>“one of those magic things that she and the wizards are always on about,” Luthor flicked a hand, “apparently it has protective properties. I myself think it looks quite spectacular.”</p><p>Dick tried to remember how the manor had looked when they’d arrived, he couldn’t think of anything particularly interesting.</p><p>“not during the night, of course,” Luthor said, seeming to gather that Dick was dubious about the rock’s apparent spectacle.</p><p>“how so?”</p><p>“the sunlight makes it…” he shrugged, “well, glow. It’s like it is constantly reflecting the rays of late afternoon sunsets.”</p><p>“and at night it looks like rocks,” Dick said, “I didn’t realise stone could be so temperamental.”</p><p>Luthor laughed and stood, gesturing for Dick to follow. Dick shot Thalia a glance and she jerked her head minutely, telling him to follow along for now.</p><p>“look at this, boy, look,” he showed Dick over to the window. Several other members had stood before and were leaning against the windows, but at their end of the table the windows were empty of onlookers.</p><p>Luthor crept up to the window, glass in his left hand, he gestured to the clasp and Dick opened the window for him. he used the chance to gaze out, looking for-</p><p>There. Isa glided down and settled on a branch. Dick turned his guard up.</p><p>Luthor leaned out slightly and pointed down at the ground to the side, a spot you couldn’t see well without leaning out the window. Something about watching Luthor dangle himself over the drop gave Dick anxiety. He wasn’t sure why. He couldn’t find another flash in the distance, it was just Isa’s wide gaze staring at him, but he thought he heard something. And he’d learned very quickly to trust Isa.</p><p>“you see over there?”</p><p>Dick tore his eyes from the dark shadows and looked down at the mountain side that stretched below then followed the direction of Luthor’s pointed finger, it landed his gaze on a small town tucked into the forest at the foot of the mountain.</p><p>“that’s a town, down there, of locals. They believe in magic and gods and all that hoo-doo nonsense, tonight they’re celebrating some pagan festival, I honestly don’t much care what, but you see those fires?”</p><p>Dick eyed the bonfires, they were just small specks of light, but as he looked longer they seemed to glow past the orange blaze. Suddenly the light burst up in bright flames that reached the sky, rays of gold reached up and the crowd screamed in delight.</p><p>“that’s the sun stone’s effect. lovely, isn’t it?”</p><p>“quite an explosion.”</p><p>“mmm,” Luthor hummed, “the one thing I appreciate these low-lives for is their ability to find beauty in destruction. It is, after all, what they’re most good at.”</p><p>Dick felt his blood boiling at that. He didn’t know what kind of society was below, but he knew Luthor was being extremely prejudiced. Luthor looked on smugly like he was waiting for Dick to explode. He did not.</p><p>“I’m sure this building is extravagant during the day, then,” Dick said instead.</p><p>Luthor nodded, still leaning out the window.</p><p>Dick saw the flash again and his head screamed. Distantly he heard Isa hoot. He grabbed Luthor’s tux lapels and pushed him down to the ground, the glass of the open window shattered and cascaded around them.</p><p>“guards!” Queen Bee shrieked and there was a cacophony as people rushed from the building. Dick saw in the undergrowth a shadow as it moved, the guards wouldn’t get there in time. Isa took flight, marking the attacker and tailing them.</p><p>“Mercy!” Luthor called out to his droid, a small cut from broken glass above his brow.</p><p>Dick made sure his murder bot had him then turned to Ra’s.</p><p>“shall I follow, sir?”</p><p>“go!”</p><p>Dick ran and jumped out the window, landing and rolling through a hedge of some kind. He sped after the shadow he’d seen, finding Isa in the sky and following her trail.</p><p>He chased them through the undergrowth, the area unfamiliar other than topography. He’d studied the surrounding area of the meeting through images and contour maps, but there was nothing compared to actually running through it.</p><p>Lucky for him, it seemed the wannabe assassin was also unfamiliar. An amateur then. No one tries to shoot someone without a well-planned escape route.</p><p>Dick jumped onto a log and used it to climb up into the lower tree line, he jumped along, gaining speed. Soon the attacker was under him and he pulled out a dagger and jumped. The blade sunk deep into their shoulder and they screamed as they fell, Dick’s feet landing in the centre of their back.</p><p>Dick wrenched the blade from their shoulder and placed it under their throat.</p><p>“hello there,” he grinned, “what brings you here?”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Bee fussed about Luthor, pretending that she cared. Alex and Slade stuck themselves to Ra’s and Thalia’s sides and stayed there. People were beginning to organise their ways home, deciding to leave early.</p><p>Dick dragged the wannabe assassin in through one of the arches. Isa settled on the open window’s edge, blending into the background of the chaos, Dick wasn’t too worried about anyone noticing her.</p><p>He’d cuffed the assassins arms behind their back and confiscated any weapons and gear, which he’d handed to Bee’s guards once he crossed the threshold. He left the manic mask on them- a face twisted in some attempt at euphoria that just looked like insanity- and brought them through the halls.</p><p>He dropped the attacker at Luthor’s feet, letting Mercy train her firearm- firearm arm?- at him.</p><p>Luthor scowled down at them, his tie undone around his neck and collar askew.</p><p>“good job, Richard, thank you,” he cleared his throat as he looked down on the assassin before him, “I think we’ll take our surprise guest home, and find out what brought them here.”</p><p>“nonsense,” Savage said, “this was Light proceedings, we’ll deal with all this for you. Best for you to head home, get some rest.”</p><p>Luthor looked torn. The request was clearly more of an order, Savage didn’t take no for an answer. However, Luthor seemed very much inclined to keep the assassin.</p><p>“of course, thank you,” he said, a drop of sweat ran from his brow down his jaw and Dick noted how he fixed his cuffs as he looked at the assassin. He seemed to be forcing his discomfort, Dick could just see the quirk of his lips as he fought a smile.</p><p>He filed that information away as he glued himself to Thalia and Ra’s sides, sharing a look with his sister and Slade.</p><p>“well, this certainly proved our new member’s abilities,” Manta said, giving Dick an appraising look, “quite the guard you’ve found, Al Ghul. It barely took five minutes.”</p><p>Dick remained impassive in the face of the compliment, something about Manta seemed familiar and he decided he’d do some research once he was home.</p><p>“yes,” Savage said, giving Ra’s a look and then turning it to Dick, “Welcome to The Light.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><h2>
<a id="_Toc51932397" name="_Toc51932397"></a><strong>No Trial but All Tribulation</strong>
</h2><p> </p><p>Kaldur eyed the test results sitting in his hands. The paper was stark against the ink, as his eyes roamed the page they caught on every fifth word. He had to tear them on, force them to keep reading. The longer he put this off the more likely he’d rip it up and dump it in the bin, never to be seen again.</p><p>He got half way, past all the medical jargon, to the part of the text that actually held the answer to his question. Once again he set the paper down on his table and took a deep breath. He walked to his kitchen, poured himself a glass of the first bottle of alcohol in his cabinet his hand landed on. He downed it, poured another and relocated back to his table. He breathed in, out, in again and took a sip of his drink.</p><p>He picked up the paper and his head disassociated on the first line. The words were going in and nothing was registering. All he could think of was the cold glass of the syringe in his hand as the mercenary had handed it to him, the pit in his stomach as he paid him and moved off, the guilt as he’d lied to Bumblebee when he’d gone to get it tested.</p><p>He rushed back to himself as his eyes crossed the most important sentence on the page.</p><p>
  <em>Relation of blood; paternal, 95% chance.</em>
</p><p>He dropped the page and pressed his forehead into his fists, eyes scrunched as he breathed out through his teeth. He held back a sob, picked up his glass and downed the rest, then walked back into the kitchen to refill it.</p><p>21 was far too young to be guessing everything in his life. 21 was far too old to find out who his father was.</p><p>Is. Who his father <em>is.</em></p><p>Manta was still alive.</p><p>Black Manta was his <em>father</em> and he was finding out <em>now.</em></p><p>The glass in his hand was empty again and he considered refilling it, but the bottle itself was almost empty. In a split second decision he threw the glass at his wall instead.</p><p>Did Aquaman know? Had his king kept this from him?</p><p>He didn’t want to ask and he didn’t know how.</p><p>Not bothering with the middle-man of a glass he settled instead for finishing the bottle. With shaking hands he then cleaned up the broken glass on his floor, using the distraction as best he could.</p><p>He drew a bath, dunked some salt in it and lay inside for several hours, hand on his forehead.</p><p>Poseidon help him.</p><p> </p><p> </p><h2>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932398" name="_Toc51932398"></a>Who Needs Emotional Scars</strong>
</h2><p> </p><p>Wally was about to die.</p><p>Zoom was back and with a vengeance, they’d chased each other through the streets till eventually they came crashing down around them. His vision warped, time messed itself up, the ground disappeared and within a moment Wally was chasing Zoom through the speed force.</p><p>Which he’d thought would work in his favour, he could be faster in there, surrounded by the energy that gave him his powers. But Zoom knew the terrain.</p><p>This was where he’d been for two years.</p><p>Wally was slammed from the side, legs slamming into nothing yet still hurting as if they had. Everything around him looked the same, felt the same. There was no ground and yet he was running.</p><p>Except not now, now he was skidding, losing control of his movement, the longer he stilled the further he fell out of the speed force. He forced himself up and after Zoom once more, gaining speed.</p><p><em>“This is where I’ve been QuickStart,” </em>Zoom said, his voice distorted. It sounded almost like when Barry used to vibrate his vocal chords to change his voice so no one recognised it, except almost like the vibration was tearing apart the skin and sinew.</p><p>Wally ducked under a hit, landed his own and then was sent hurtling backwards. As he slowed he saw the real universe in flashes, his arm was in Rome, his leg blurred through Chicago, his chest crashed through Kabul.</p><p>He landed and sped up again, everything stinging. It didn’t seem that running parts of you through the barrier into the real world while the rest remained in the speed force was a bad idea.</p><p><em>“I’ve been growing stronger in here,” </em>Zoom sneered, <em>“and I’ve been dying.”</em></p><p>Wally’s heart stopped in his chest as he saw Zoom in his peripheral, he ducked but the hit still came. His head snapped backwards and his neck ached, he was once again slowing, starting to move through the gap, he sped up again.</p><p><em>“I will die soon, in fact,” </em>Zoom said, and Wally couldn’t find him, he’d disappeared. He turned, whipped his head around, running, running, running, never stopping.</p><p>
  <em>“but I will make you feel what I have felt all these years, parts of me trapped here…”</em>
</p><p>As he trailed Wally felt something grab his leg, he fell. His chest landed on something, his eyes got a glimpse of Moscow, then Zoom was dragging him, full speed.</p><p>Wally’s leg ached, it felt torn raw, he shrieked as he tried to pull it free, lightning and spark coalesced around Zoom as he yanked Wally closer by his ankle and grabbed the front of his shirt.</p><p><em>“part of me in the real world,” </em>Zoom continued his speech, and suddenly part of him was moving but the rest had sectioned. His body was falling apart, held together by seams of lightning and flesh of energy, eyes burning black and blue.</p><p>Part of Wally was still in the speed force, but without warning his arm went numb and his head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. The bottom of his body was falling apart just like Zoom’s, turning to light and energy.</p><p>Zoom leaned forward, <em>“and part of me not even existing.”</em></p><p>He grabbed hold of Wally’s head, fingers sparking and running energy through Wally’s brain. The world seemed to split apart, everything turned to explosions of light. His lungs weren’t working, nothing was working, his mind screamed, he couldn’t feel his legs. lightning was arcing through him, and all he could see was Zoom falling apart. His black figure turning into arcs of lightning, eyes burning, skin translucent and revealing no bones, no organs, no insides, just burning speed force energy. As Zoom exploded Wally felt electricity running through him, his tongue tasted battery acid and he smelled fire, his skin crawled and all over <em>burned,</em> he was being destroyed too. Just like Zoom, acidic energy eating away at him, lightning zapping through him, everything <em>hurt.</em></p><p>And the last of Zoom disappeared, the speed force tore itself apart, the gaps between worlds were closing now that Zoom wasn’t holding them open, the energy exploded through him and he wasn’t moving. He dropped out of the speed force like a knife through water.</p><p>And he was falling. Places drifting past as he crashed through the speed force, through the remaining gaps, through his world, through the fibre of existence. Barry had done this before but he’d known how.</p><p>And he’d been moving.</p><p>Wally couldn’t move.</p><p>So he fell, eyes catching glimpses of Moscow, Rome, Berlin, Kabul, Rio, Sydney, Beijing.</p><p>And then Jump City.</p><p>He barely noticed the football field, the grand stands, the grass as he crashed into them all.</p><p>He blacked out with one thought.</p><p>Zoom was dead.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Joe West had seen Zoom and QuickStart disappear, he was running around the town with the rest of the police officers.</p><p>But he was the only lucky one to be close enough to the stadium when QuickStart crashed.</p><p>He ran in, calling it in quickly, words leaving his mouth before he could register them.</p><p>QuickStart was steaming, the ground around him ripped up, his suit torn in some places.</p><p>And bleeding. Bleeding a lot.</p><p>Joe didn’t even think, he jumped into the small indent made from the impact, he grabbed hold of his shoulder and lifted him up. He pulled out his phone to call the ambulance.</p><p>“don’t.”</p><p>The word was soft, he barely heard it. afterwards was the distinct sound of someone shoving air into their lungs. QuickStart shuddered, coughed, heaved, breathed deep, “don’t… call.”</p><p>Joe fixed his weight so he had a good hold of the hero. He was still way too light for a grown man of his height, he almost laughed at how that was the first thing he worried about, not the massive bleeding gash along the man’s face and side.</p><p>“you need help.” He said, clicking the three numbers, his thumb hovered over the call button, then QuickStart said.</p><p>“Barry.”</p><p>Joe blinked, turned his head, “what?”</p><p>“call Barry,” he said, chest rattling as he stumbled, Joe helped him out of the indent, up onto the flat ground.</p><p>“my…” Joe trailed, “Barry Allen?”</p><p>“call him.”</p><p>“how did you-?”</p><p>“do it.”</p><p>He then collapsed, unconscious once more. Joe looked at his phone.</p><p>He scrolled through his contacts, hit his son-in-law’s number and waited for him to pick up.</p><p>“Joe? What-“</p><p>“QuickStart said to call you.”</p><p>“WHAT!”</p><p>“I’m confused too but he was adam-“</p><p>“I’ll be there in a sec.”</p><p>Joe frowned, “what?”</p><p>It was more like three seconds, but suddenly Barry Allen was in front of him. his slippers were smouldering and the plastic sole had melted entirely, his bathrobe was askew and his eyes wild.</p><p>“Oh my god,” Barry said, voice hysterical, “oh my god, no, no, no, what happened?”</p><p>Joe blinked, “what?”</p><p>Barry took QuickStart’s other arm, “okay, I’m guessing your car is here? Let’s get him there, I’ll explain later.”</p><p>Joe blinked but he dragged his city’s hero along, his son-in-law helping.</p><p>“it’s okay, Wally, you’re gonna be fine,” he was mumbling, and Joe took a double take.</p><p>“Wally?!”</p><p>“I’ll explain later!” Barry said again, voice definitely hysterical. He was crying.</p><p>Joe looked at QuickStart once more, his face pouring out blood like it had a surplus of the stuff.</p><p>Oh there was a lot to explain.</p><p> </p><h2>
<a id="_Toc51932399" name="_Toc51932399"></a><strong>Consideration</strong>
</h2><p> </p><p>Dick moved his plate to the side, cutlery placed on top, he looked at Thalia, across the table.</p><p>“it was a test.”</p><p>She rose an eyebrow, “what makes you say that?” she raised a fork-full of eggs and toast to her mouth.</p><p>“I can’t find the assassin anywhere in our files, and I searched <em>all</em> of them. Manta seemed to be analysing it enough to roughly keep track of time. Luthor was easily relaxed, in fact he’d been leaning out the window, practically asking to be shot. He deliberately had me by his side,” Dick said, leaning back in his seat, “the only way it all lines up is that it was a set up.”</p><p>“why would they test you?” Thalia asked, frowning.</p><p>Alex said, “making sure you deserve the position, checking to see how you’d handle the situation, I’m not surprised, I wouldn’t put it past them.”</p><p>“Savage didn’t seem aware,” Slade said evenly, finishing off his drink.</p><p>“no,” Ra’s said, sitting at the head of the table, “they never make him aware of their…” his fork moved in the air as he found a word, “shenanigans.”</p><p>Dick almost laughed at the way the word sounded coming from Ra’s, he wished he got a recording.</p><p>“I doubt he’ll remain unaware.” Dick analysed the grain of the table’s wood.</p><p>“of course,” Thalia sighed, “it’s nothing to worry on, if anything it’ll keep their eyes off your back.”</p><p>“mmm,” Dick hummed, but his mind was far away.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Slade had a mission, and Dick figured he’d annoy him afterwards. Luckily, Slade had called ahead as he started home and asked Dick to meet him at the Heli-pad. Dick figured it had to do with training, he and Slade hadn’t had a proper session for a week. Either way, he was already in his training gear when he met his teacher at the pad.</p><p>“how was it?” he asked as a courtesy, he honestly didn’t care and he knew the answer already.</p><p>“not abnormal, annoyingly quick,” he grunted, “but the end was interesting.”</p><p>Dick raised an eyebrow, Slade fished around in his gear, took out a small black box.</p><p>“Luthor was on the roof when we were leaving, he asked me to give this to you, compensation for the trouble, apparently.”</p><p>“he realises it’s my job, right?”</p><p>“I’m sure there’s some plotting behind it,” Slade rolled his eyes, “I’d be wary.”</p><p>Dick took the box. It was heavy, but he guessed it was due to what was inside not the material of the box itself. It didn’t have a clasp or a lock or anything, just a cover.</p><p>“I’ll run some tests on it before I open it.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>He sat on his bed, the box in front of him.</p><p>No energy readings, no heat readings, no radiation, no signal. An X-Ray revealed no weird metal things or bones, just a circle.</p><p>He groaned, sighed and rolled his eyes. It wouldn’t kill him, so he may as well open it.</p><p>He took the lid off and it revealed… a stone.</p><p>Polished stone.</p><p>A small, polished orange stone about the size of the tip of his thumb, set into a silver oval.</p><p>Dick blinked.</p><p>He picked it up, it revealed a silver chain.</p><p>A necklace. Lex Luthor had sent him… a necklace.</p><p>As he moved the light from his window hit the stone and rays of light flashed brilliantly off the surface. Flecks of reflections danced across his walls and belongings.</p><p>A sun stone.</p><p>A pit in Dick’s stomach started to be dug. A sun stone. Luthor had gifted him a sun stone necklace.</p><p><em>‘I’m sure there’s some plotting behind it.’</em> Slade had said and once he remembered those words Dick remembered Luthor’s.</p><p>
  <em>‘The one thing I appreciate these low-lives for is their ability to find beauty in destruction.’</em>
</p><p>His fingers tightened on the surface of the oval of stone.</p><p>
  <em>‘After all it is what they’re most good at.’</em>
</p><p>He scowled, threw the necklace against his wall. He felt the need to grab his sword and storm to the training room.</p><p>A bad idea, it only served to prove true what Luther’s <em>gift </em>was insinuating.</p><p>So instead he walked down the hall to the gift his sister had given him, the trapeze.</p><p>He was already tired of The Light’s internal politicking. He didn’t know how he’d deal with it for the foreseeable future.</p><p>But for now, the trapeze was a good enough distraction.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Artemis stood outside the door to the infirmary, chewing at her cuticles. Kaldur was driving a rut into the floor as he paced.</p><p>“he’s gotta be okay,” she said after a while. It was weird hearing something other than Kaldur’s footsteps after such a long time.</p><p>“I know.”</p><p>“he has to be.”</p><p>They lapsed back into their silence.</p><p>“did you see him?” Kaldur said, sparing her a glance before his eyes were forced forwards again. Back to pacing. Eight steps, swivel, eight steps, swivel.</p><p>“yes. I saw Barry and Superman carry him in.”</p><p>“what-“ Kaldur seemed to change his mind about asking the question, “who’s the person with them?”</p><p>“dunno, think it’s a relative of Barry’s.”</p><p>Kaldur nodded, running his thumbnail against his bottom lip, elbow resting against his hand.</p><p>Artemis let out a deep breath, “he looked…”</p><p>Kaldur glanced at her again, then back forwards, his steps quickened slightly.</p><p>“it’s like half his body was slammed into a meat grinder or-“</p><p>Kaldur winced.</p><p>“it was just…” there was still blood on the tip of her boot where she’d stepped in a puddle, she stared at it, trying to come to terms with the fact that it was Wally’s, “How?”</p><p>“I talked to Canary, they think it’s something to do with the speed force, or dimensional shit.”</p><p>Artemis almost choked on air as she heard the curse come out of Kaldur’s mouth. Three years she’d known him and he was never one to swear.</p><p>“dimensional?” she got out.</p><p>“something like…” he took two steps and turned, “getting caught between.” Four steps, his toes caught slightly on his ankle so there was a sound of fabric brushing and Artemis cringed at it, “something about threads of existence, string theory, I don’t know.” He finished his next four steps and turned again. As he turned his hand went to his head, he took a deep breath as he ran his hand along the shaved white strands.</p><p>“nothing I understand then,” Artemis said, her voice was hollow. Assassins she could understand. Witches, crazy scientists, psychopaths and superpowered maniacs, sure. Universes and splits and the difference between reality and non-existence she could never understand or comprehend.</p><p>And yet she was still affected by it, her friend had fallen prey to what she could never understand.</p><p>“he has to be okay,” Kaldur said, voice a shadow of its usual volume, of its usual strength.</p><p>Artemis nodded mutely, staring at the smudged dot of blood on her boot.</p><p>After a while the door to the infirmary creaked and Barry walked out. He heaved out a huge breath, torso curling with the weight of it. he dropped his head against the door behind him and slid, dropping with very little grace to the ground.</p><p>Artemis stood and Kaldur stopped pacing, they looked at Barry expectantly.</p><p>The speedster didn’t seem to have noticed they were there, instead running his hands along his face and breathing deeply in the way people did when it was a struggle. Each ragged piece of air shoved into his lungs sounded like its own battle.</p><p>Artemis and Kaldur shared a look. Eventually they broke the expectant silence.</p><p>“Is…” Artemis swallowed, “is he gonna be okay.”</p><p>Barry made no move to look at them, didn’t seem willing to even speak, but eventually he opened his mouth and made a pained sound. As if he’d been trying to say a word but it got caught up in his attempts to keep breathing and to hold the sobs at bay. Barry cleared his throat and tried again.</p><p>“he’s… gonna live, he’s gonna heal up,” he said, his hands dropped from his face, he’d lost any energy capable of holding them up. His head was still dropped against the door, “okay is another question.”</p><p>“can we see him?” Kaldur asked immediately.</p><p>“he’s not awake,” Barry said, “J’onn is trying to delve in and find out if he’s okay in his head, the medical equipment will keep him going…”</p><p>Artemis realised exactly what he was saying, his words were trailing but she had all the information she needed.</p><p>She opened the door, Barry shot out of the way once it started dropping out from behind him, and stormed in, Kaldur quick at her heals.</p><p>She had thought maybe she could interrogate whoever was in the room, but once she saw Wally on the bed and hooked to the machines and so covered in bandages they seemed to be all that was keeping him together she lost any of that strength. She merely stumbled to his bedside and collapsed to her knees next to it, cupping her mouth with a hand as she grabbed at his arm and found his pulse. Still there, faint but still there.</p><p>Kaldur grabbed hold of the foot of the bed to steady himself, staring empty-eyed and slack-jawed at the unconscious form of his friend.</p><p>Alive. Only just.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Happy New Year</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>We now make it all the way to the six year mark.<br/>Welcome to season two, enjoy your stay.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932400" name="_Toc51932400"></a>Happy New Year</strong>
</h1>
<h2>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932401" name="_Toc51932401"></a>Leadership</strong>
</h2>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>“Beta squad to Cave, the target has disappeared and… well uh, the secretary general wasn’t the secretary general.”</em>
</p>
<p>Artemis blinked, turning to the other hologram she had up, she flicked her commlink as she looked through footage.</p>
<p>“Come again, Beta?”</p>
<p>
  <em>“Tseng was uh…” </em>
</p>
<p><em>“It appears the secretary general was some kind of… extra-terrestrial,” </em>Batgirl filled in for Wonder Girl<em>, “the target has disappeared, we’ll return to the cave to debrief. ETA fifteen minutes.”</em></p>
<p>“agreed,” Artemis said, frowning as she analysed the footage she’d gotten hold of already. This was… beyond worrying.</p>
<p>She was beginning to wish someone else had stepped up so she didn’t have to lead the damn team, it would work better in the long run, but it was too late to change things.</p>
<p>Artemis flicked through the screens, Delta squad came through the zeta beams, Conner and Beast Boy covered in muck. Lagoon boy greeted M’Gann with a kiss and Artemis gave Conner a smile as he walked by. She was about to go talk to him when he announced that he would be hitting the showers. Her eyes followed him out as she sighed.</p>
<p>“Delta, I trust it went well?”</p>
<p>“it was <em>uh-may-</em>zing,” Beast boy cut in before M’Gann had a chance to begin a report. As she smiled Robin stepped up to explain. She took it as a sign she didn’t need to stick around and greeted her boyfriend. Lagoon boy started prattling about dinner plans.</p>
<p>“all according to plan, Clay Face is on his way to his cell in Arkham as we speak,” Robin spoke up.</p>
<p>Artemis nodded, “good, hit the showers and get started on your official mission reports.”</p>
<p>“where’s beta?” M’Gann asked.</p>
<p>“Batgirl and Wonder girl headed to the United Nations headquarters to help with an attack, they’re on their way back now,” she said smoothly.</p>
<p>L’Gann smiled, “then I have time to make you some crab cakes, Angelfish.”</p>
<p>The two walked off, smiling, and Artemis let her face fall once no one was watching.</p>
<p>She took out her communicator, the one that no one could know about. She flicked the buttons and played with the frequency. She took the zeta tubes to Bludhaven, made sure she wasn’t followed, and called the one contact on the communicator.</p>
<p>She needed to talk to Kaldur.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I’m still pissed about this, by the way,” Alex grumbled, glancing between Thalia and Dick.</p>
<p>“thank you for reminding us,” Thalia said, “we can have the party another time.”</p>
<p>“we pushed it back a month. and then two weeks. now we have to push it back further, come on, it’s not gonna happen,” Alex shifted and switched hands on the grip in the aircraft’s ceiling, slight turbulence shook them.</p>
<p>“If it helps, I don’t care,” Dick said.</p>
<p>“it does not.”</p>
<p>“Alex, please get over it,” Slade said, rolling his neck with a pop. He was getting too old for this, “it was a fucking birthday party.”</p>
<p>“we didn’t have one last year! or the year before.”</p>
<p>“exactly,” Dick said, “why start now?”</p>
<p>Alex gave him a glare in response.</p>
<p>“we can have a big party for everything next month,” Ra’s offered.</p>
<p>Alex sighed with an overdramatic pout, “<em>fine.</em>”</p>
<p>“I’m only 22 anyway, that’s not a milestone, I don’t care,” Dick said.</p>
<p>“beside the point,” Alex huffed.</p>
<p>“If you’re quite done,” Duvall said, leaning over his shoulder from the pilot’s seat, “we’re about to start landing.”</p>
<p>“Thank you, Duvall,” Thalia said, “sit down you two, even Slade’s in a chair.”</p>
<p>Alex made a face.</p>
<p>“I’m good,” Dick said, swapping hands on the hanging grip, “gonna stand while I’m young enough.”</p>
<p>Ra’s grunted, “enjoy it while it lasts, my boy.”</p>
<p>“says the immortal assassin king,” Alex grinned.</p>
<p>“I don’t understand, just sit down,” Thalia sighed.</p>
<p>“it’s a matter of pride,” Alex defended.</p>
<p>“pride? I- what?”</p>
<p>At that point Slade decided to stand as well. Thalia looked on like a character from the Office.</p>
<p>“see? Pride.” Alex snickered.</p>
<p>“I give up on all of you.”</p>
<p>“okay everyone, starting to set down now,” Duvall sung out.</p>
<p>Turbulence shot through the aircraft, the standing guards tightened their grips while Thalia and Ra’s leaned back in their seats. They weren’t in the usual fancy jet this time, instead going for the military-esque armoured aircraft. No chances would be taken when flying in an area where they could be attacked.</p>
<p>Especially with the league suddenly hotter on their tail than ever.</p>
<p>They landed and the door and ramp was opened, the guards each took to Ra’s and Thalia’s sides as they walked out. This meeting was the first to be hosted by Black Manta, Dick was interested in how it would go.</p>
<p>And they’d heard that Manta had a new number 2. A right-hand-man who was Manta’s most trusted lieutenant- or rather Admiral, considering their location. No one knew who it was, when they’d shown up or why Manta was so trusting.</p>
<p>The group walked out onto the tarmac, the landing pad was enclosed with giant walls and tall ceilings. Their welcoming party were clad in Manta’s usual garb and marched them along. Manta definitely ran things differently to Queen Bee and her aristocracy.</p>
<p>Once exiting the landing pad they found themselves in halls with glass along one side, looking out on the sea. Dick listened to what their chauffers were saying.</p>
<p>“that’s the last of them, everyone accounted for, submerge may begin.”</p>
<p>Submerge?</p>
<p>Oh, no way.</p>
<p>There was continued chatter and it seemed that things were being said along the line, then a siren wailed for a few seconds and the intercoms crackled.</p>
<p>
  <em>“all personnel enter the craft, submerge will begin in five minutes.”</em>
</p>
<p>Ra’s looked over to Slade, “submerge?” he asked, voice sounding like a warning. An answer would be required or there’d be hell to pay.</p>
<p>“this wasn’t in any of our info,” Slade muttered to Ra’s.</p>
<p>“the base is fully transportable,” one of Manta’s men piped up, “and is designed as a submarine, capable of connecting to our other ships to create a small under water system of ships.”</p>
<p>Thalia looked at him, incredulous, “why were we not told this?”</p>
<p>“it is strictly classified information.”</p>
<p>“we were going to find out anyway.”</p>
<p>“exactly.”</p>
<p>Dick and Alex shared a look, they and Slade seemed to unanimously decide to stick closer to Ra’s and Thalia.</p>
<p>As they walked, going through rooms and halls, the craft shuddered and rocked. The glass wall revealed the movement as the ship slowly sank lower into the water. Soon the waterline rose up, and Dick watched as the lights brightened to acclimatize with the darkness that edged in, crystalline water surrounding from all sides.</p>
<p>Dick took a deep breath, steadied himself. He was more of a flying person, not much of a deep-water type. But he could deal.</p>
<p>They finally found themselves in a dining hall, members of The Light sitting ready to speak.</p>
<p>No milling about, mingling, no snacks, just business. Dick could get behind that.</p>
<p>They sat, Dick on Thalia’s left, Slade on Ra’s right and Alex in the middle. Manta sat at one head, elaborate and beautiful masks hung on the wall behind him, wooden spears crossed underneath. Savage sat at the other end, the door behind him.</p>
<p>On Manta’s right was an empty chair; vacant of his number 2. Dick eyed the crowd, trying to get a grasp of the overall consensus to the room. If everyone was already on edge he’d want to know.</p>
<p>“who are we waiting on?” Luthor drawled.</p>
<p>“My son,” Manta said, without skipping a beat. Dick’s stomach dropped.</p>
<p>Manta had a <em>son</em>? How did he not know this.</p>
<p>As evident by the expressions of everyone else in the room, they didn’t either.</p>
<p>“excuse me?” Bee asked, voice sharp.</p>
<p>Dick’s hand rested on the dagger sheathed at his side. The animosity in the room was growing stifling. Everyone was already running on frayed nerves due to the league being on their tail and the Reach being their usual arrogant selves.</p>
<p>The Reach- as soon as Dick remembered them he had to fight a scowl. He didn’t know what Savage was thinking, bringing them in. Ra’s would be cutting ties soon, he cared too much about his people to risk them on The Light’s fool’s errand with the Reach. But the longer this dragged out the closer they got to leaving in contempt- something they did not want.</p>
<p>“Manta,” Savage said, cutting through Dick’s rushing thoughts, “we were under the impression you had a new Admiral.”</p>
<p>“yes, I do,” Manta said, hands clasped on the table, “and that admiral happens to be my son. Any complaints?”</p>
<p>Dick rose an eyebrow, sharing a look with Thalia.</p>
<p>“it would have been appreciated if we had known,” Ra’s said.</p>
<p>“you were capable of working well enough before without knowing, and now you do because it is of importance.” Manta stayed stony, voice not wavering and eyes boring into Savage from the end of the table; a challenge.</p>
<p>“your secret keeping calls into question your integrity,” Bee said, lips about a millimetre from becoming a scowl.</p>
<p>“I wasn’t aware my integrity relied on telling you all everything.”</p>
<p>The problem wasn’t that he kept secrets. Dick knew that much- the problem was it had been easy for him to be caught. It was not a lie he cared about. Luthor could lie, Bee could lie, Ra’s could lie. But they’d keep it up, they wouldn’t decide to show their hand at the drop of a hat. Because what they lied about was of importance.</p>
<p>A meaningless omission? It merely suggested there was more under the surface.</p>
<p>Dick eyed the empty seat.</p>
<p>“how long will he be?” Luthor asked, “maybe we best start without him.”</p>
<p>“there is no need,” Manta said with a wave of his hand.</p>
<p>Before Luthor could continue speaking the door hissed open and one of Manta’s men walked in, heels clipping on the metal. The only difference from the usual armour was that he did not wear the streamlined goon’s helmet, rather the same type Manta wore.</p>
<p><em>Speak of the devil</em>, Dick thought. And the man sat in the chair that was empty, across from Slade and at his father’s right-hand side.</p>
<p>“my associates, I would like you to meet my son,” manta said, and the man slid the helmet off, “Kaldur’Ahm.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dick was quite sure this was the first time he hadn’t paid attention in a Light meeting.</p>
<p>In his defence, he had a reason.</p>
<p>That was Kaldur. <em>Kaldur.</em></p>
<p>What the hell had happened.</p>
<p>No- now, wait. Hold up. This had to be a plan, a double cross, a secret agent situation with the league, there was no other explanation. Kaldur would never, <em>never</em>, betray the league and his friends.</p>
<p>Not like Dick had.</p>
<p>He killed that thought before it could grow.</p>
<p>Kaldur’s father was Manta, maybe he’d gone through something similar to Dick, maybe he’d prioritised family and history. Maybe. But it was a mere maybe. And Dick hadn’t wanted to work for the light, he’d just wanted to figure out who he was, especially seeing as even batman seemed to think he was born and bred for this.</p>
<p>Kaldur was not. No way. Even if Manta was his father, Kaldur was not made to be his father’s right-hand.</p>
<p>This had to be a trick. Had to be.</p>
<p>Which means he had a conversation to have with Thalia after this meeting.</p>
<p>When the meeting was finally finished they started talking about their next moves. Manta was given a bunch more bases to be in charge of.</p>
<p>“we could take the Malina Island base,” Ra’s offered, “we aren’t in charge of many of our assets, we can balance the load.”</p>
<p>“no, Manta is in the perfect situation to handle these bases,” Bee said, “besides, he hasn’t had a trial yet, time to prove your mettle.”</p>
<p>“I’m sure I’ll prove it to be strong,” manta said.</p>
<p>“maybe, Ra’s, you can lend a hand,” Savage offered, “especially seeing as Manta’s right hand is still fresh.”</p>
<p>“I assure you, Kaldur’Ahm is fully equipped,” Manta said, “he has proven his ability many times.”</p>
<p>“to you, maybe. to us? Not yet.” Savage turned to Ra’s, “maybe you can offer someone to… assist.”</p>
<p>Dick thought of it the same time that Ra’s said it.</p>
<p>Ra’s nodded, “Richard would be perfectly suitable to offer his services.”</p>
<p>Perfect.</p>
<p>At his name Dick met Manta’s eyes. The man seemed aggravated at having his and his son’s loyalties called into question, but he played along.</p>
<p>“an extra hand can only be beneficial,” Manta said evenly, “I’ll have a room prepared.”</p>
<p>“good,” Savage said, “how quickly can you pack, Richard?”</p>
<p>Dick was focused on Savage but he kept an eye on Kaldur, “very,” as the sound escaped his mouth Kaldur’s head snapped in Dick’s direction, scepticism in his eyes, “I’ll be able to arrive here via helicopter tomorrow, at 1400 hours, is that acceptable?”</p>
<p>Manta nodded. But Dick wasn’t watching him, he was watching Kaldur, who was staring at him with strongly veiled curiosity. He could only decipher it thanks to the fact that he knew the way Kaldur’s expressions worked. It had been six years but he still remembered.</p>
<p>This was perfect, he could keep an eye on Kaldur. He could figure out what the hell was going on.</p>
<p>No way he’d joined by choice or because he wanted to. No way. Dick wished he could up and leave the league purely because he hated the Light and what they stood for. He had grown connected to his family too much to do so, but Ra’s was <em>leaving</em>, Manta wasn’t.</p>
<p>“that will be perfectly acceptable,” Manta said, and Dick drew his attention back to him, “Richard… is that the name you work under, or do you have an alias?”</p>
<p>Ah yes, an alias. He’d needed one to use in front of those that weren’t high up enough to be trustworthy. Because in this business power dictated how much information you were privy to.</p>
<p>These people weren’t powerful enough to know who he really was.</p>
<p>“Renegade,” Dick said.</p>
<p>“well, I’m sure you’ll be a pleasure to work with,” Manta said, smile inching closer to a smirk.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<h2>
<a id="_Toc51932402" name="_Toc51932402"></a>Loyalties</h2>
<p>“and you’re sure?”</p>
<p>“do I look <em>unsure?</em>” Dick raised his eyebrows as he stared between his family, “<em>That’s. Aqualad</em>. I’d know him anywhere.”</p>
<p>“okay and? he’s turned on the league, you did, too, it’s not impossible,” Slade said. Although his voice suggested he was expecting a refute from Dick.</p>
<p>“no. I know Kaldur, he’d never ally himself with the light.”</p>
<p>“but with his father?” Ra’s asked, hand rubbing at his chin, “you are not overly fond of the light, but we’re stuck working with them till we can manoeuvre our way out.”</p>
<p>Dick shook his head, leaning against the sideboard. Something on the dining table glittered and he moved his position so the reflection didn’t annoy him.</p>
<p>“then he’s a spy.” Thalia crossed her arms, “we should alert Savage.”</p>
<p>“should,” Alex said, “but is now the right time? Maybe we haven’t seen the whole picture yet, maybe it’s best to observe for a moment.”</p>
<p>“besides,” Dick said, “I’m quite sure Savage knows. Maybe Luthor, and the rest are definitely suspicious. By tomorrow everyone will know for sure.”</p>
<p>“then we’ve nothing to worry about,” Slade said, once more playing devil’s advocate. He knew there was more to this.</p>
<p>“If I come forward to say he’s definitely a spy it’ll give me away as well, which will be worse because I’ve been operating for three years as an affiliate. It won’t have good after effects.” Dick bit his lip as he thought on it. the league would be disconnected entirely, and worse then held in contempt.</p>
<p>“we can’t just let him feed information to the heroes,” Thalia said.</p>
<p>“or can we?” Ra’s asked the crowd. They looked at him incredulous, he shrugged, “if the Justice League take the light down we don’t have to worry about them attacking us once we leave. We could even help if we so wished. If we do nothing we can gauge the situation, we can play both sides.”</p>
<p>Dick shared a look with him, “We help the heroes take down The Light for us, or we can turn on them at the end to get them off our tail.”</p>
<p>“exactly.”</p>
<p>“then it’s a good thing you’ll be stuck working with him,” Alex grinned.</p>
<p>“not necessarily,” Dick said, “he’s just as likely to recognise me.”</p>
<p>“you sure? You’ve changed a good bit in the past six years,” Alex said, holding her hands in the air about a foot and a half apart, “by like this much.”</p>
<p>“wow, ouch,” Dick drawled.</p>
<p>Thalia snorted, “I do agree, I think you’re safe as long as you go by Renegade and act carefully. He may not even recognise you without a mask. Besides, it is just one of them, he may push the thought away as a delusion and distraction.”</p>
<p>“and you can always stab him if he gets too troublesome,” Slade said.</p>
<p>“that is a horrible idea.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Manta shared one level of extravagance with the rest if the Light- he had an appreciation for the class system of a dictatorship. Unfortunately.</p>
<p>Once he landed his stuff was taken- probably to be searched through with a fine tooth comb, then eventually dropped wherever he’d be staying.</p>
<p>The small ship he had entered on submerged to meet with Manta’s underwater system of submarines, the whole thing creaked and groaned as it connected to the main thing and pressurised. He got a nod from one of Manta’s men and he walked through the door to the larger ship. His ears didn’t even pop.</p>
<p>He took in the area quickly, it seemed like a giant hall with doorways that could take on other ships- the equivalent of a landing pad. Dick located Manta and Kaldur further down and walked over, dropping his hood and the face mask over his mouth, leaving the eye-covering. He was no longer in the company of people who knew him, he had an identity to keep.</p>
<p>So he had to slip into Renegade. He usually only had to do that for missions, short periods of time, this would be awhile. Perfect.</p>
<p>“Renegade,” Manta acknowledged, “1400 hours, on the dot, impressive.”</p>
<p>“I aim to impress,” Dick said smoothly.</p>
<p>“then I’ll be sure to set my expectations high.” Manta gestured Kaldur over, “I’ll let you and my son introduce yourselves properly. I understand your position with Ra’s is as a personal guard, so I’ll make the transition easy. You’ll be working with Kaldur, if he is hurt,” Manta held a finger in Dick’s face, “I will hold you accountable.”</p>
<p>Dick had to hold back his mumble of ‘great’.</p>
<p>Manta walked off and Dick turned to Kaldur, completely at a loss as to how to handle this. He’d thought he could do it, thought he could pretend. standing there and looking at his friend proved him wrong.</p>
<p>Kaldur seemed plenty happy to take the lead, however, thankfully.</p>
<p>“You know my name already. and you would be Richard…” he trailed, waiting for a last name.</p>
<p>“Just Renegade will do,” Dick said, holding a hand out for Kaldur to shake, “on mission and all.”</p>
<p>“understandable,” Kaldur said, going for a forearm clasp instead of a handshake, Dick couldn’t be surprised, Kaldur always went for the overdramatic approach, even if no one expected it.</p>
<p>“I’m guessing your job is less paperwork based, more practical.”</p>
<p>“thankfully,” Kaldur said, “we’re headed to Malina island in three hours. Your gear will be moved to our ship, I’ll give you a tour before dispatch.”</p>
<p>Kaldur lead Dick to another one of the docking halls and onto a ship. He showed him the officer’s mess hall, computer systems, the bridge, the engine room, everything till they were at the officer’s quarters. He pointed out where his own place was in case of emergency then lead him to where Dick would be staying.</p>
<p>“you’ll want this,” he handed him an earbud, “we keep a tight ship communication wise.”</p>
<p>Dick eyed it, he’d run some scans in case, but for now he placed it in his ear.</p>
<p>“any questions?”</p>
<p>“any suggestions on homework before we land at Malina?”</p>
<p>“Homework?” Kaldur blinked.</p>
<p>Dick snorted and shook his head, “research, what do I need to know? We keep a tight ship at the league as well.”</p>
<p>“research? Nothing much. I’ll have the schematics of the base and such sent to you, otherwise, you should be fine.”</p>
<p>“understandable.”</p>
<p>Kaldur made to walk away but held back, “that tight ship, how far does it extend?”</p>
<p>Dick gave him a small smile, “depends.” He leaned against his door.</p>
<p>“on what?”</p>
<p>Dick shrugged, “your reaction.”</p>
<p>Kaldur raised an eyebrow, “it’s rather unsurprised so far.”</p>
<p>Dick allowed himself one grin, only because no one but Kaldur was there, and maybe also because he couldn’t help but ease up around an old friend- a habit he’d have to break and <em>fast</em>.</p>
<p>“well, let’s just say my access to information is <em>immense</em>.”</p>
<p>“Then I’ll preface this mission with a warning,” Kaldur said, his demeanour changed entirely, “anything in my past is no indicator of my present.”</p>
<p>Dick’s face fell, “evidently.”</p>
<p>Kaldur’s eyes turned vaguely… accusatory? No. curious, but he was mad about it, or slightly volatile in some fashion. it reminded Dick of when Bruce would realise he didn’t know something and be very cross.</p>
<p>Dick didn’t have time to decipher the expression, a crackle came over the comms.</p>
<p>
  <em>“beginning pressurise and disconnect in fifteen minutes. Sir, we await you at the bridge.”</em>
</p>
<p>“acknowledged,” Kaldur said over the comm, then turned to Dick, “I assume you don’t need to gather anything before this mission officially begins?”</p>
<p>Dick stood from the wall and pulled the bottom half of his mask up over his nose, “lead the way.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<h2>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932403" name="_Toc51932403"></a>Set Up</strong>
</h2>
<p> </p>
<p>Artemis would never say she <em>enjoyed </em>being team leader. Hell, she wasn’t even <em>supposed </em>to be.</p>
<p>It was supposed to be Conner who stood up, or M’gaan. How had she been landed with the role? Kaldur had barely managed to take the weight of it, the effects of Jason dying under his leadership-</p>
<p>Well, hopefully she wouldn’t have to deal with that. This was a short stint till Batgirl could fill in. why she wasn’t already nominated Artemis had <em>no fucking clue</em> but now she was stuck running things, all the while she planned to die soon and go undercover with Kaldur.</p>
<p>Perfect.</p>
<p>But at least there was a backup ready, at least Barbara was in on the act.</p>
<p>At least the team had a leader, because for a while it seemed like no one would stand up for the role. She’d grit her teeth and offered, holding back tears as a feeling of fear and guilt had cemented itself in her and started growing. But it was too late to go back, too late to change things.</p>
<p>Too late in general.</p>
<p>She heard a dull thud, quiet, but in the silence of the warehouse it was plenty.</p>
<p>She took a deep breath as she turned towards it, looking down the shadowed hallway of shelves.</p>
<p>“Wally?” her voice was a whisper, two seconds from breaking.</p>
<p>Kaldur stepped out, wearing the Black Manta gear that set the guilt in Artemis twisting.</p>
<p>“hi,” she said, not quite knowing what else she could say.</p>
<p>She heard the sound of paper moving and Wally was there, silver and magenta suit sparking. She could see the red scar on the side of his face peeking past the cowl.</p>
<p>“don’t tell me you started without me,” he tried to joke. They all held back cringes as they fought with the awkward tension in the room.</p>
<p>“never,” came a voice behind Artemis, and Batgirl moved smoothly into the conversation. At the sight of everyone gathered Artemis couldn’t help but sigh in relief. Everyone was still okay.</p>
<p>“how are things on your end, Kal?”</p>
<p>“all according to plan. Manta has put me in charge of a base and introduced me to the leading members of the light.”</p>
<p>“then why does your voice sound so worried?” Artemis said. More worried than usual was really the operative statement, she was quite sure the only other way he could sound was neutral, or angry if necessary.</p>
<p>Kaldur’s lips were set in a hard line, “they’ve decided to have someone keeping an eye on me. One of Ra’s Al Ghul’s guards, Renegade.”</p>
<p>Artemis froze, “Renegade?”</p>
<p>“you’ve heard of him?”</p>
<p>“he’s one of their legacy types, his dad was in the league from what I’ve heard. Good at what he does, <em>really</em> good.”</p>
<p>“loyalties secure?” Kaldur asked with a raised brow.</p>
<p>Artemis blinked, “of course.”</p>
<p>He nodded, “he seems…” he frowned, “strangely not fond of the Light. Not in any treasonous way, but he is very clearly taking orders because he has to.”</p>
<p>“you’re sure?”</p>
<p>“yes, completely,” he said, “he seems familiar…” he trailed.</p>
<p>“I’ve heard the League of Assassins may be trying to extricate themselves from The Light,” Artemis said, “maybe it’s a sign.”</p>
<p>“and maybe, he can be used,” Batgirl suggested, “he could be a possible unknowing ally, if you play things right.”</p>
<p>Kaldur nodded, “agreed.” He crossed his arms, “what about your end?”</p>
<p>“the team suspects nothing, no one does.”</p>
<p>“Aquaman?”</p>
<p>Artemis pursed her lips, “he doesn’t believe it, I can tell, most of them don’t want to…”</p>
<p>“but surface level they believe it?” Wally checked.</p>
<p>Artemis nodded, “yes.”</p>
<p>“and you Wally?”</p>
<p>“It’s hard to scout around lately, a lot of places are screwing themselves tighter than ever,” he said with a frown, “but I think it looks like the best time will be the launch, as we previously thought. It looks like there’s gonna be a move against it from The Light, likely thrust upon Manta’s forces.”</p>
<p>“then all steam ahead,” Artemis said, the guilt shooting through her more and more.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>As they watched Kaldur’s ship disappear Artemis analysed the scar peeking out of Wally’s suit.</p>
<p>“I can feel you staring,” he said, eyes still trained on the ripples of water.</p>
<p>“I’m just not used to it,” she muttered.</p>
<p>“it’s been three years.”</p>
<p>“doesn’t matter.”</p>
<p>Wally sighed through his nose, “I’m not used to it either.”</p>
<p>“you doing fine? Using your powers as much as you have been lately?”</p>
<p>“I’m <em>fine</em>,” Wally grunted, a little too volatile. At Artemis’ look he cringed, “sorry, Barry’s been on my back lately.”</p>
<p>“I can imagine,” Artemis snickered, “it’s almost like going straight back into the fight immediately after finishing recovery is worrisome.”</p>
<p>“I’ve been back in it for almost a year, I’m still fine.”</p>
<p>“yes, but you were also in a coma for ages and afterwards running was almost tearing you apart,” Artemis said, “I think you can forgive us considering all the exhaustion on your body.”</p>
<p>“I’m fine, really,” Wally said, a small smile on his face as he turned to Artemis, “I get a bit achy sometimes and I still can’t be speedy in one part of the body while the rest remains slow, but I’m <em>fine.</em>”</p>
<p>Artemis rubbed at her eyes, “okay, I trust you,” she sighed as she crossed her arms and turned her face back to the water, the ripples were beginning to settle.</p>
<p>“how’s the team?”</p>
<p>Artemis shrugged slightly, “the team’s the team. We keep forging ahead, no matter what.”</p>
<p>“Tim?”</p>
<p>“he’s great,” a small smile curled Artemis’ lip, “not as confident in himself as he deserves to be, real bright, could probably show Dick up with a computer.”</p>
<p>As the sentence left her mouth she regretted it. Wally winced and Artemis felt a pang in her gut. They lapsed into silence as they grappled with the emotions the name brought out.</p>
<p>Eventually, Artemis broke the silence, voice barely above a whisper as she stared at the ground, “any luck finding him?”</p>
<p>“none,” Wally said, voice just as quiet. His breath seemed to shudder quietly with an oncoming sob he refused to let out.</p>
<p>“maybe-“</p>
<p>“he’s not dead.”</p>
<p>“I know,” Artemis looked at Wally, frowning, “he can’t be, there’s no way. He’s out there somewhere, we just aren’t looking hard enough.”</p>
<p>Wally went on the defence, “I’m trying,” he grunted.</p>
<p>“I said we.”</p>
<p>“I know what you said.”</p>
<p>Artemis fought a scowl, “I only meant-“</p>
<p>“whatever,” Wally said, “maybe if we send the right message he’ll show up himself, to lend a hand.”</p>
<p>“maybe.”                                                </p>
<p>“meanwhile, how’s the search for Roy?” Wally asked.</p>
<p>Artemis held back the scream of frustration that wanted to bubble up, “we’re closing in, but he’s adamant to not be found.”</p>
<p>“and your sister?”</p>
<p>“just as slippery.”</p>
<p>“are you…” Wally trailed, hand going to the back of his neck, “gonna tell her?”</p>
<p>“no.”</p>
<p>“really?”</p>
<p>“no,” Artemis said, “she won’t care anyway. She’ll mourn a bit, but I was always a choice for her. She cared when she decided to. She’ll show up for the funeral, that’s about it.”</p>
<p>“and your parents?”</p>
<p>“about the same. Mum will have some trouble, but she’ll accept the apology by the end of it.”</p>
<p>“and if there is no end of it?”</p>
<p>Artemis pursed her lips, “there will be.”</p>
<p>“how can we be sure?” Wally said, “we could be at this for a long time. Kal’s already been undercover for going on a year.”</p>
<p>“we just have to be sure,” Artemis said.</p>
<p>Wally nodded, “okay.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Kaldur was well versed at this part of the mission. He had become a professional at slipping by ‘his’ men with ease. Thanks to the fact his ship had its own dock for him and another for all other shuttles, he could leave and return without anyone knowing. The trip through the halls was simple, he knew the watch schedules and everything.</p>
<p>What he hadn’t taken into account was Renegade.</p>
<p>He turned a corner and his new guard was leaning against the wall, cleaning a knife. one foot propped up, his shoulder digging in to the surface. His hood was down and the lower mask as well, leaving a nest of material around his shoulders. His eye mask was still on and Kaldur was almost disappointed, something about them made Kaldur feel like he knew this person. It was the same feeling he had when he saw Wally or Artemis- they were safe harbour, a break from everything. </p>
<p>He kicked himself, his mind was still relaxed after talking with his friends. It didn’t help that Renegade’s voice sounded so <em>familiar.</em> He didn’t understand it. he’d had a double take when he’d heard it at the meeting. Once sound escaped his mouth Kaldur had been put on edge- there was something different about this assassin. He didn’t know what it was, but he’d figure it out.</p>
<p>“what are you doing up?” Kaldur interrogated. He was supposed to be the leader here, he had to keep his act up.</p>
<p>Renegade shrugged, “I’m a bit of an insomniac.”</p>
<p>“and your solution is to traipse through the halls?”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, is that against the rules?” He asked, grinning.</p>
<p>Kaldur let it slide, “no, but questionable.”</p>
<p>“says the one who just arrived back on his own ship, without telling anyone he’d left.”</p>
<p>It was at this sentence that Kaldur remembered there were no camera’s that would see them at this position, they were just outside the line of sight.</p>
<p>“are you questioning my actions?”</p>
<p>Renegade rose an eyebrow, “was I not making it obvious enough?”</p>
<p>Kaldur had to fight a smile- what was it about this assassin that made it so hard to keep up the ruse?</p>
<p>“it’s confidential.” Kaldur settled for.</p>
<p>“according to who?”</p>
<p>Kaldur narrowed his eyes in a glare. Renegade snorted at it. when Kaldur didn’t let up he stood from the wall and returned Kaldur’s glare with his own. Kaldur almost stumbled back at the sight of it, a dark glare that reminded him of Batman.</p>
<p>“normally I wouldn’t care too much, but Manta made his view clear,” Renegade said, voice dark, “you get hurt, it’s on me,” he poked Kaldur in the chest, “I have dealt with Thalia’s son for years, I will not hesitate to drug you to stop you from getting yourself killed.”</p>
<p>“I’ll keep it in mind,” Kaldur said, trying to match up with renegade’s dark tone and demeanour, he was quite sure he was falling short, “but unless you forgot, I run things around here.”</p>
<p>“and unless you forgot,” Renegade smirked, “my name literally means ‘to rebel’.”</p>
<p>“more like ‘to betray’,” Kaldur countered.</p>
<p>“which would you prefer?”</p>
<p>Kaldur’s eyebrows shot up before he could control them. He schooled his expression.</p>
<p>“I’d prefer you to leave me to my autonomy, as this is <em>my </em>ship,” he said.</p>
<p>Renegade stepped back with a shrug, “forgive me for my concern,” he bowed overdramatically as he stood to the side, gesturing for Kaldur to walk by him, “<em>sir.</em>”</p>
<p>Kaldur walked by, not sparing another glance till he was about to turn another corner.</p>
<p>“Renegade.” he looked back at the man over his shoulder.</p>
<p>Renegade tilted his head as he looked to Kaldur, hands on his hips.</p>
<p>“question me again and you’ll spend the night in the brig.”</p>
<p>Renegade grinned, shaking his head as he laughed. Kaldur turned and walked away.</p>
<p>Keeping this assassin off his back would be more difficult than expected.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<h2>
<a id="_Toc51932404" name="_Toc51932404"></a><strong>Malina Island</strong>
</h2>
<p> </p>
<p>“All sectors report status.”</p>
<p>Renegade stood to the side, Kaldur waiting for his men to report in. Malina island took less constant upkeep than expected, especially seeing as it was technically a Krolatean base. They just had to oversee and keep things going.</p>
<p>“sector one: secured.”</p>
<p>“sector two: secured.”</p>
<p>There was a gap of static.</p>
<p>“sector four: secured.”</p>
<p>Kaldur and Renegade shared a look.</p>
<p>“sector three, report,” Kaldur ordered. Static continued to crackle, “<em>sector three</em>.”</p>
<p>“well that’s promising,” Renegade quipped.</p>
<p>Kaldur stood and put his helmet back on, storming out. Renegade followed along, eyes seeking out the intruders who must be around. Kaldur alerted his men of the possible threat and told them to double down.</p>
<p>And, they were not hard to find.</p>
<p>“Intruders on the level,” Kaldur announced over the comms.</p>
<p>Renegade caught the shadows just as Kaldur did.</p>
<p>“and in the water.”</p>
<p>He turned and fired the laser-beam into the water, Renegade slid his sword out of its sheath and took to Kaldur’s side. As the heroes began popping out of cover they sprang into the fight. renegade shot a smirk over his shoulder to Kaldur.</p>
<p>“seems this mission won’t stay boring after all,” he snickered, dodging a hit and giving plenty more back.</p>
<p>“you were bored?” he heard Kaldur ask.</p>
<p>Renegade was keeping up with the fight, sure, but also he was watching what Kaldur was doing. This would be a good basis for whether he really was a traitor.</p>
<p>As Manta’s men swarmed Kaldur stood back and contacted the higher ups. Renegade stayed on alert to make sure no one got a lucky hit in.</p>
<p>“Manta to partner, the base has been infiltrated, abort operation.”</p>
<p>“Partner to Manta, the device is already primed, you have five minutes,” Renegade faltered a step. Five minutes? That was it? “get your men out. The bomb will take care of the rest.”</p>
<p>“perfect.”</p>
<p>“oh, you’ve got that right,” Renegade scowled.</p>
<p>They seemed far enough away from the fight to not be in immediate trouble, but Kaldur laid down cover fire with the lasers of his helmet and Renegade did the same with his pistol.</p>
<p>“Manta to all troopers, endgame enabled,” Kaldur said, “strategic retreat to Manta flier, you have four minutes.”</p>
<p>The two started moving, not waiting for the troops to follow. As they ran Renegade finally took notice of Batman, fighting alongside Robin and Batgirl. Any other day he’d pick a fight with Batgirl- who he was almost 100 percent sure was Barbara- for the hell of it, now he wasn’t in the mood.</p>
<p>They moved through the base with precision, noticing as the heroes changed strategy, going after them having noticed their retreat.</p>
<p>“three minutes to departure,” Kaldur said, and Renegade noticed a hero getting close- he didn’t know this one, but considering the shirt they must be working with wonder woman. He drew her away from Kaldur and managed to manoeuvre out of some hits, but didn’t give any of his own.</p>
<p>As he stepped back to help Kaldur he realised he was a bit late.</p>
<p>A fist slammed into Kaldur and he went flying, the helmet coming off and clanging on the ground. As he stood again the heroes took a double take and Renegade moved in to Kaldur’s side.</p>
<p>“I hadn’t believed Artemis till now.”</p>
<p>Renegade almost couldn’t hear what Aquaman said. But the sheer emotion on the heroes faces as they crept closer…</p>
<p>They didn’t know. They’d been told but not believed.</p>
<p>Kaldur had really turned traitor.</p>
<p>He kicked himself for spacing out, forced the rushing thoughts to a halt- not all the heroes had to know. He could be a double agent and only one or two people knew. Batman most likely.</p>
<p>But not even his own mentor? Harsh.</p>
<p>“you did not want to believe!” Kaldur had accused, and Renegade focused in as Superboy said “None of us wanted to believe this!”</p>
<p>“how could you betray us?”</p>
<p>At the question Renegade felt a pang, a moment when his mind thought of the other possible situations he could hear such a statement hurled. He forced himself to not think about it- he didn’t care, he didn’t, the heroes opinions didn’t matter. He only succeeded in a small amount, but that was enough.</p>
<p>“you dare question me?” Kaldur’s voice had turned hysteric, his eyes wide as he scowled at his former friends, Renegade didn’t understand the emotion from him, it was wrong, how could- “when all of you let Tula die!”</p>
<p>Oh. Shit.</p>
<p>Now Renegade understood the emotion.</p>
<p>“Kaldur that was a mission,” Artemis was in the picture, easing forward as Kaldur readied his weapons, Renegade did the same, but there was something in him that didn’t like how this was going, “Aquagirl knew the risks. No one wanted-”</p>
<p>“Neptune’s beard!” it was the fish boy who interrupted, and Renegade took the chance to lean closer to Kaldur and mutter to him a plan of escape, “don’t coddle this traitor! He has joined forces with our king’s greatest enemy!”</p>
<p>“you mean the king who hid from me the true identity of my father?” Kaldur’s voice sounded to Renegade like that of a man who had only pain left, and it was all he could give. He had nothing else to throw to his enemies, and nothing else to live off of, only the ache in his chest that grew stronger every day.</p>
<p>“that was my error in judgement, Kaldur’Ahm,” Aquaman said, seeming like he thought he could bring his old apprentice back to the good side, Renegade knew it would not work, “no one else need suffer for it.”</p>
<p>Kaldur gave Renegade a look, a sign to prepare to leave.</p>
<p>“all will suffer if Black Manta demands it,” he said, smoothly.</p>
<p>Renegade laid his finger over the trigger.</p>
<p>“blood is thicker than sea water.”</p>
<p>It was a small explosion, but enough for them to disappear into.</p>
<p>But Kaldur didn’t go the right way, he ran for where the bomb must have been set, Renegade followed.</p>
<p>“what are you doing?” he kept his voice low.</p>
<p>Kaldur didn’t answer.</p>
<p>As he crouched in front of the bomb Renegade gave up on getting an answer and settled instead for keeping watch. As Artemis slid down into the room he unsheathed his sword and levelled it on her.</p>
<p>“Kaldur…” she began.</p>
<p>“just you and me, old friend?” Kaldur offered. Renegade backed off slightly as Kaldur drew his water bearers.</p>
<p>“no,” Superboy appeared, “it’s a regular reunion special!”</p>
<p>“you can take me down,” Kaldur said, but then let the water of his weapons drop, he put them away and gestured to the bomb, “or you can save everyone from this bomb.”</p>
<p>As the heroes eyes fell on it Renegade smirked, “I’ve heard the yield is quite impressive.”</p>
<p>“you have two minutes,” Kaldur added.</p>
<p>The heroes backed off. Renegade dropped a smoke bomb and the two finally disappeared, headed for their escape vessel.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dick finished putting away his gear and flopped onto his bed. He had about five hours of un-filled time to sleep, two of which he’d probably use doing something completely unrelated thanks to his insomnia.</p>
<p>He hadn’t had a full night’s rest since the eve of his twentieth birthday. He tried not to think about why.</p>
<p>He tried to get comfortable, shifting in his blankets, but the bed was still uncomfortable and unfamiliar. It didn’t help that Batman and Batgirl and Robin had all been at Malina Island.</p>
<p>He’d run into them enough times to count on his fingers since he’d left, and he’d never had too many issues. This was, however, the first time he’d had a run-in with them because they were on clear opposing sides. the others, it was a mission and he was taking someone out and they were in the way. Now…</p>
<p>It felt like a point of no return. A clear line in the sand. He didn’t know why it bothered him, he shouldn’t care. Yet, his stomach squirmed.</p>
<p>He sighed and shifted again, trying to find a position that was comfortable on the bed. The submarine creaked and he tried not to think about the pressure of the huge amounts of water surrounding the ship. He missed Isabel, she was always good company on the excruciatingly dark, quiet nights when sleep eluded him more than the questions of the universe.</p>
<p>He needed a distraction, so much so he audibly whispered, “oh thank god,” when he heard a knock on the door.</p>
<p>He opened the door, and there stood Kaldur.</p>
<p>“evening.”</p>
<p>“It’s five in the morning.”</p>
<p>“and we’re on a submarine and this is my leisure or sleep time, so it’s evening to me,” he smirked and leaned against the doorframe.</p>
<p>His sweatpants and t-shirt probably weren’t appropriate for talking to his allocated boss, but he couldn’t much so care. Especially seeing as Kaldur was wearing something similar which meant he got a good view of his biceps as he crossed his arms and gave Dick a disapproving stare.</p>
<p>“what can I do for you?” Dick asked, not changing his demeanour or expression.</p>
<p>“I need a training partner who isn’t incompetent.”</p>
<p>Dick raised an eyebrow, “interesting.”</p>
<p>Kaldur looked on, seemingly waiting for Dick to offer his time or say he couldn’t help. Dick would not, he would instead wait for Kaldur to ask himself.</p>
<p>Eventually he gave in on waiting, “would you be willing to spar with me?”</p>
<p>Dick made a face and a show of considering it, “I don’t know, my bed was starting to look pretty comfortable.”</p>
<p>“what happened to your insomnia?”</p>
<p>Dick cracked a smile, “am I really the <em>only </em>one you’d be willing to spar with?”</p>
<p>Dick was having fun with this. He hadn’t thought about the fact that he wasn’t wearing a mask and thus was at risk of Kaldur finding him out and he hadn’t thought about the possibility of him noticing things about him that tipped off Dick’s original alias. He couldn’t think about that, he was too busy thinking about how much he missed Kaldur and how he hadn’t realised when he was younger just how much he’d enjoyed the Atlantean’s company.</p>
<p>“as I said, you are the only <em>competent </em>one I’d be willing to spar with.”</p>
<p>“aw, well call me flattered,” Dick snickered, “I’ll grab my escrima sticks.”</p>
<p>“I was thinking hand-to-hand.”</p>
<p>Dick raised an eyebrow, “interesting. Well, lead the way to the training room.”</p>
<p>Kaldur smirked, “I have my own.”</p>
<p>“of course you do,” Dick snorted, “well, let’s get going, unless you’re worried I’ll whoop your ass.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Kaldur knew Richard. He <em>knew </em>him. the fighting style was eerily familiar, he knew that sense of humour, he’d <em>heard this voice before.</em></p>
<p>And the eyes felt like they were mocking him.</p>
<p>He’d almost broke cover when Richard had opened the door. The sound of his voice was no help, but it was his eyes… he <em>knew them. </em>He <em>knew </em>this person. He was absolutely sure of it.</p>
<p>Leading him to his training room gave him a chance to steady himself. He couldn’t drop cover, no matter how close he was. Everything about Renegade put him on the edge of giving himself away, but he needed to know who he was and what kind of threat he was.</p>
<p>And he needed to know why he had that strange <em>feeling </em>every time Richard was in the same room as him.</p>
<p>They passed into his designated quarters. He blew down the hall past all the doors to the very end, which opened into a room with mats on the floor. Several elaborate masks and decorative weapons were hung on one wall. There were drains on the sides of the room that held water ready to be manipulated and a weapons rack was tucked into one corner.</p>
<p>Kaldur stood in the centre of the mats, observing Richard as he took in the room.</p>
<p>“does it meet the league of assassins standard?”</p>
<p>Richard smirked ever so slightly, “not enough sharp things,” he gestured to the weapons rack, “and not up on the walls? Sacrilege.”</p>
<p>“walls are for art.”</p>
<p>“should a sword not be a piece of art?” he asked, hands slipping into the pockets of his sweatpants.</p>
<p>“I prefer other weapons over plain steel.”</p>
<p>“right, yeah,” he grinned, waving his fingers in the air, “magic.”</p>
<p>“do you not believe in magic?”</p>
<p>“I’m a science person myself,” he said, walking closer to the wall containing the masks and spears, “computers, too. No computer is safe from me,” he said with a wry grin.</p>
<p>Something in Kaldur’s heart leapt as he took in his face, that smile and those eyes and that humour and…</p>
<p>He <em>knew </em>him.</p>
<p>“should I be worried?”</p>
<p>Richard shrugged, “you got anything worth hiding?”</p>
<p>Kaldur stood next to him, training his eyes on the masks on the wall, “not from you.”</p>
<p>“debatable.”</p>
<p>“what’s that supposed to mean?”</p>
<p>Richard shrugged, “my father used to say, ‘a man with a secret is a man with a purpose,’ I don’t take you for the uninteresting type.”</p>
<p>“your father is in the league?” he knew the answer, but he wanted to see Richard’s personal reaction.</p>
<p>Richard nodded mutely, something in his face as he glanced away from the masks. Some form of hidden meaning Kaldur couldn’t decipher.</p>
<p>“was,” he said like he was correcting himself.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>Richard shrugged, “happened when I was a kid.” he seemed to make some quick decision and added, “besides, that’s what happens in this line of work.”</p>
<p>“that is true.”</p>
<p>They lapsed into silence, and Kaldur took the moment to keep rifling through his memories. Trying to put a name to the eyes, the voice, the humour.</p>
<p>“are we going to spar or not?”</p>
<p>Kaldur blinked, “right, of course.”</p>
<p>Sparring with Richard helped with nothing but intensifying his feeling of familiarity. It felt like he’d done this before. Every hit, every block, every move. He was seconds away from being lost in memory because he was sure he’d done this before. The man standing in front of him, blue eyes above raised fists, was someone he knew.</p>
<p>The way he fought. He knew it.</p>
<p>Before Kaldur could realise what he was doing he found himself throwing everything at Richard. The best way to figure out the intricacies of a fighter was to push them to the edge and find out what was left of their style when they were too tired to be dramatic. The things that always existed in their moves. Richard had a set position he always came back to, arms in, feet square, and the way he moved was something Kaldur saw in Batgirl and Robin. A distinct way of fighting found in training with people bigger and stronger. He moved through dodges in such a way that flowed into hits.</p>
<p>He didn’t realise when his magic started running through him, static zipping over his knuckles. Richard didn’t complain. Every hit he took came back at Kaldur ten-fold.</p>
<p>Richard twisted out of one hit and Kaldur landed a punch on his shoulder, sparks singing as electricity shot through him. Kaldur hadn’t even been trying, his mind had slipped into it.</p>
<p>Richard didn’t flinch and didn’t waver, he kept on fighting. After a few more hits he ducked out of a hit from Kaldur, back handspringing on his right arm, the one weakened by the electricity Kaldur had sent through it. Kaldur took the moment and targeted the weakness, moving in and throwing fast hits before Richard could get his bearings. For a moment it looked like he had a chance at winning as Richard seemed to pause, a shock running through him.</p>
<p>And, oh no, Kaldur was wrong.</p>
<p>It was a moment to another kind of change. He didn’t see it happening, just the before and the after.</p>
<p>Richard fought without holding back, a ferocity to his movements that Kaldur hadn’t seen till then. Every hit came with a new strength and every move was precise. He was no longer flowing, he had turned into a collection of twitching muscles that saw every opening and got in before it was gone. The movements weren’t jerky, more like someone who wasn’t caring about grace and confusing the opponent by weaving out of hits. If Kaldur didn’t know better he’d say that Richard was fighting without a care of what he was doing or the consequences, he merely wanted to take down the opponent, everything came after.</p>
<p>Kaldur’s back hit the mats, the breath ran out of him. his head hit the ground with a smack. Richard’s knee dug into his right wrist to hold it down, one hand was around his throat, there was a weight on his chest that was not helping him fight the wind that was knocked out of him.</p>
<p>And he looked up to find Richard, eyes no longer familiar. They were gold, ringed with green. Red along the outsides and skin pale.</p>
<p>He did not know those eyes. He did not know the person above him.</p>
<p>It happened in a second. A moment to another change, just as it was before. His eyes seemed to swirl and turned back to blue, the red rim disappeared. The pale tinge to his skin remained, however, as his eyes turned wide and he shot back to his feet.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>Kaldur took deep breaths, a hand to his face.</p>
<p>“I, uh…” Richard cleared his throat as Kaldur forced himself to sit up, “do you need a hand?”</p>
<p>Kaldur let his hand drift away from his eyes and looked up to find Richard offering him a hand up. He hesitated to take it, the crazed fighting before gave him pause. He remembered what Artemis had said about this man- he was dangerous.</p>
<p>But there was something about his voice that made Kaldur believe his apology. He grimaced as he accepted the hand and let Richard help him to his feet.</p>
<p>“it is I who must apologise,” Kaldur said, breath still mildly uneven, “I underestimated you- <em>severely</em>.”</p>
<p>Richard let a smirk bubble past the worried expression, clearly realising Kaldur wasn’t going to explode, “I get that a lot.”</p>
<p>And the eyes were annoying him again. Could he not get a break? Was Richard that great an actor that he could switch between the deadly killer and the sarcastic guy in moments? If that was true Kaldur had to admit he was mildly jealous.</p>
<p>“I have to ask,” Kaldur said, schooling his features.</p>
<p>“I know.”</p>
<p>“what was that?”</p>
<p>Richard seemed to suddenly be carrying a weight, his shoulders drooped and he stuffed his hands in his pockets.</p>
<p>“long story, but to put it short…” regardless of his attempts to simplify he seemed to be having trouble with words, “It… is what happens when you mix Lazarus with Electrum.”</p>
<p>“the element?”</p>
<p>“crudely. But in actuality it’s a bit more complicated.”</p>
<p>“uncomplicate it.”</p>
<p>Richard snorted, “heard of the court of owls?”</p>
<p>“No.”</p>
<p>He seemed to be visibly relieved, his face lightened, “another of those assassin cults. They’re killers were made practically immortal with… a really… bad process.”</p>
<p>“that doesn’t mix well with Lazarus.”</p>
<p>“yeah.”</p>
<p>“then why did you mix it?”</p>
<p>He laughed, but in a forced way that suggested he was hoping it would balance out the true emotion. His face dropped once he realised he hadn’t the energy to keep the façade going.</p>
<p>“I was ridiculously close to dying, so they tossed me in the pits.”</p>
<p>Kaldur froze.</p>
<p>“tossed?” he struggled out.</p>
<p>“well,” Richard’s hand drifted to his neck, fingers brushing a pale scar Kaldur only just noticed, he dropped his head and let his hand rub against the hairline above his shirt’s collar, “tossed is a bit crude, my sister lowered me in.”</p>
<p>Kaldur didn’t exactly know how to respond to that.</p>
<p>“pretty bleak, I know, but there are worse aftereffects,” he said and leaned in conspiratorially, “there was this one dude, like three decades ago, who had half his face burned off, and whenever his muscles got tired it’d spasm and he’d be unable to control half his face.”</p>
<p>Kaldur smiled awkwardly and tried to ease himself, this was normal for Richard and the rest of the league of assassins.</p>
<p>“anyway.” Richard shrugged, “wanna go again?”</p>
<p>Kaldur had a better idea, “you said no computer’s safe from you?”</p>
<p>“yep.”</p>
<p>“then come give me a hand with something,” Kaldur gestured out of the room.</p>
<p>“did you break your laptop?” Richard asked drily, “have you tried turning it off and back on again?”</p>
<p>Kaldur had to clench his teeth to stop himself from laughing, “no. We need to hack in to NASA to find out when they’re launching their rocket. That’s our next mission.”</p>
<p>Richard rose an eyebrow, “NASA? I like the sound of that.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<h2>
<a id="_Toc51932405" name="_Toc51932405"></a><strong>Depths</strong>
</h2>
<p> </p>
<p>“and you’re still sure he’s a traitor?”</p>
<p>“definitely,” Dick said, one hand on his chin as he looked at the screen. Slade and Alex were both there, standing worriedly just as thoughtful, “he’s different to when we were younger, but there’s no way he’s really turned traitor.”</p>
<p>“he did find out his father was Black Manta, and a friend of his died,” Alex suggested, “how impossible is it, really? What do you actually have to go on?”</p>
<p>“I know Aqualad,” Dick said, “it would take more than a dead friend and a Vader-Luke moment to get him to abandon everything. He was loyal to his king, he lead the team.”</p>
<p>There was a noise off-screen and Slade sighed, “Demon brat’s got out again.”</p>
<p>“don’t look at me, it’s <em>your </em>turn to get him to go to bed.”</p>
<p>“since when?”</p>
<p>Dick snickered, “I see babysitting duty is still an issue over there.”</p>
<p>Alex rolled her eyes, “he’s only five and yet he’s as slippery as a snake trained in stealth.”</p>
<p>“and he has a tendency to pull hair,” Slade grumbled.</p>
<p>The noise occurred again and Alex gave Slade a raised eyebrow that forced him to sigh and walk away.</p>
<p>“it can’t be that hard.”</p>
<p>“of course you would say that,” Alex said, “you’re like, the only one that kid likes.”</p>
<p>“aw, I always knew I’d be a good mum.”</p>
<p>“yeah, well just make it look like Aqua-dude doesn’t need a personal body-guard so you can come home to your child.”</p>
<p>Dick shook his head with a grin, letting the conversation lull.</p>
<p>Alex sighed and rubbed at her eyes, she seemed pale.</p>
<p>“are you okay?” Dick frowned.</p>
<p>“right as rain, why?”</p>
<p>“Don’t make me answer that.”</p>
<p>Alex sighed, “you need to stop doing things just cause you’re worried about me.”</p>
<p>“that would cross a lot of things off my schedule, I don’t like big changes.”</p>
<p>“hilarious.”</p>
<p>And yet the truth in the statement wasn’t all that funny to him.</p>
<p>“what did you do last night?”</p>
<p>“not drugs,” she said, “do I get a medal or a gold star?”</p>
<p>“funny.”</p>
<p>“look, you can’t judge-“</p>
<p>“I’m not judging.”</p>
<p>“-you don’t even sleep, okay, at least when I’m high I come down and <em>go to bed,</em> but no, you just walk around and find things to do.”</p>
<p>“not sleeping is not the same as doing drugs.”</p>
<p>“what, are you a doctor now? Didn’t think so.”</p>
<p>Dick rolled his eyes then rubbed at them, “look, I got three hours last night, consecutive.”</p>
<p>“wow, you deserve a gold star.”</p>
<p>“and I ate all my vegetables like a good boy, are you happy?”</p>
<p>Alex sighed, “did you do your homework?”</p>
<p>Dick groaned, “Alex just please try not to do anything stupid, I’ll be home soon, surely. The only reason I’m here is cause the Light’s got trust issues, after this mission they should be trusting enough to at least let me leave.”</p>
<p>“hooray, you can come hover over me again.”</p>
<p>“you bet I fucking will.”</p>
<p>“If you took all the energy from your constant worry over me and everyone else in your life, you might actually have some time to sort out your own life’s problems,” Alex said, “ever thought of that?”</p>
<p>“hadn’t crossed my mind, anyways, gotta go.”</p>
<p>“wait.”</p>
<p>“oh no, you’re breaking up,” Dick said dead-pan, while making crackling noises, “we must be going through a tunnel.”</p>
<p>“you’re in a submarine-“</p>
<p>He flicked the button and the call disconnected, the screen turning black.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“so what you’re telling me is you think we can… <em>‘work’… </em>with Renegade.”</p>
<p>“yes,” Kaldur said, head resting on his hands as he leaned towards the screen. The cold metal of the desk hurt his elbows but he was too comfortable in this position to move.</p>
<p>“Renegade is the super deadly killer assassin right?” Wally checked in, his ginger mop of hair a bright fire taking up his screen. He was sitting on an angle so Kaldur could only just see the corners of the angry scar that ran in jagged arcs down his side and neck, but he felt the ghost of them teasing him on the screen, <em>‘remember when your friend almost died?’</em></p>
<p>“yes, but he’s just as human as you,” Kaldur pointed out, “he’s only with the Light because Ra’s Al Ghul is, and they are in the process of emancipation.”</p>
<p>“really?” Artemis perked up. The backdrop of the warehouse was in the corners of the square screen she took up, Kaldur wondered which one she had extensively researched and scoped out just for this small conversation.</p>
<p>“that’s what I’ve heard.”</p>
<p>“then there is a chance he could be swayed to help us, if necessary- <em>only if necessary</em>,” Batgirl said, peeking in from one side.</p>
<p>“when would it be necessary?” Wally asked.</p>
<p>“if we needed a getaway or information or just assistance in general, it couldn’t hurt,” Artemis said, “we’ll all think about it. Kaldur, continue to scope him out. We’ll continue talking next meeting.”</p>
<p>“yes,” Wally said, “when you’ll be dead.”</p>
<p>Everyone grimaced.</p>
<p>“yep,” Artemis said, “when I’ll be dead.”</p>
<p>“are you sure you can go ahead with it?” Kaldur asked, “there’s still time to back out.”</p>
<p>“no,” she said, voice even, “you need something to make you look good, and this way I’ll be there to help.”</p>
<p>“I still don’t like this,” Wally said.</p>
<p>“none of us do,” Batgirl sighed.</p>
<p>“how will the team cope with a new leader so soon after it was changed?”</p>
<p>“it should ease over fine, Batgirl’s ready to help the chaos.” Artemis was running a nail along her lips as she stared into the distance thinking, “I think they’ll want Conner or M’Gann to step up, as they’re senior members. most likely it’ll be a joint effort seeing as neither are particularly fond of leadership. Batgirl’s ready to step up if need be, she’s pretty much as senior as it gets without being one of us OG six.”</p>
<p>“then we’re all set,” Kaldur said, “we commence as planned?”</p>
<p>“we commence as planned.”</p>
<p>Kaldur nodded, “then I will see you all next time we meet.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dick didn’t expect to see his old teammates like this, he really didn’t.</p>
<p>Artemis had become team leader, he didn’t know that till recently. Seeing her side by side with Batgirl- who <em>had </em>to be Barbara- made something in his chest ache. He wasn’t sure what. But he could still fight them perfectly fine.</p>
<p>The problem was Kaldur, he seemed off.</p>
<p>Retrospectively, he was the exact same as he always was. But there was one thing that Dick had up on all the others- he’d spent time personally training with Kaldur now. He knew how he fought. This was not it. this was lacking all individuality and grace, he was a robotic vessel, like a video game character. Every move seemed preconceived.</p>
<p>Dick couldn’t decipher why. He focused on the fight.</p>
<p>The sand beneath him was fine and sprayed out everywhere with every move. The rocket was preparing to lift off and the sound was enormous in his ears.</p>
<p>He took a hit from Batgirl and ducked away, in the space of that Kaldur moved in and batted Batgirl away. He turned and hit away Artemis’ bow and-</p>
<p>He stabbed her.</p>
<p>Artemis arched, mouth wide and eyes blown as Kaldur glared daggers. Blood dripped onto her lips as Kaldur wrenched the blade from her chest, she stumbled back, clutching her wound, she collapsed on the sand and Batgirl swept in.</p>
<p>Dick watched, mind going numb.</p>
<p>He didn’t notice the rocket exploding on its own or Kaldur’s order to retreat. He was too busy staring as Batgirl attempted CPR on Artemis. M’Gann and Superboy running in and staring in confusion and shock.</p>
<p>He caught Superboy’s eyes, just barely. he was looking for a moment of shared shock and emotion, but he got pure hatred staring back at him. M’Gann was the same. Dick felt like he was about to throw up.</p>
<p>“We’re going,” Kaldur said as he walked past Dick.</p>
<p>He didn’t move.</p>
<p>“Renegade.”</p>
<p>Dick blinked, still staring at Artemis.</p>
<p>“<em>Renegade.</em>”</p>
<p>Dick’s head turned to Kaldur. He had no idea what he looked like in that moment but it was definitely some shade of emotional. Dick couldn’t find it in himself to care about the possibility that he was two seconds from breaking his cover.</p>
<p>“we’re going. Now. retreat.”</p>
<p>Dick nodded, unable to form words. He turned, tearing his eyes away from Artemis, dying on the sand.</p>
<p>He wanted to run to her, wanted to scream and cry in frustration, wanted to help batgirl help her, wanted to get down on his knees and beg them forgiveness-</p>
<p>But he couldn’t. he couldn’t. he couldn’t.</p>
<p>Oh god he couldn’t. he couldn’t even emote because he wasn’t supposed to be Dick Grayson, he had to be Renegade.</p>
<p>But Artemis was dying. Was probably dead by now.</p>
<p>The small ship connected to Kaldur’s large one, it pressurised and they walked into the entrance area. Dick walked numbly to his quarters.</p>
<p>He flicked on his computer and called his sister and waited for it to connect. He sat in front of the screen with his head in his hands.</p>
<p>“Hey Dickie bird, what’s up?” Alex said.</p>
<p>Dick sobbed.</p>
<p>“oh, shit, okay.”</p>
<p>Dick just kept sobbing.</p>
<p>“Dick, hey, bro, I’m here, what’s up?”</p>
<p>Dick dropped his hands and took a deep breath, he leaned back and sniffled, “Alex, oh my god I can’t do this.”</p>
<p>“hey, what do you mean? What happened?”</p>
<p>Dick swallowed and held his hand over his mouth.</p>
<p>“Artemis is dead,” he said.</p>
<p>Alex blinked, “okay.”</p>
<p>“I don’t know what to do.”</p>
<p>Alex nodded, “okay, bro, take a deep breath.”</p>
<p>Dick did just that, it hiccupped down his throat and he sobbed again.</p>
<p>“I know this is hard.”</p>
<p>Dick laughed and it turned into a sob again, “<em>hard</em>?”</p>
<p>“but it’s okay, this is okay, cry, scream, turn yourself inside out. You can’t fight your feelings.”</p>
<p>Dick felt something bubbling up in his throat, probably another sob. He took a deep breath, hands turning to fists. He bit down on his knuckle to hold back the scream as he sobbed. He didn’t know how long for.</p>
<p>“Dick.”</p>
<p>He collapsed again, head in his arms resting against his knees.</p>
<p>“Dick.”</p>
<p>He sobbed and then clenched his teeth against the emotions bubbling up.</p>
<p>“<em>Richard</em>.”</p>
<p>He looked up.</p>
<p>“take a breath. I’m here. Do you want to talk?”</p>
<p>He let out every piece of air inside him. nodded. Then shook his head.</p>
<p>“okay, that’s alright, I’m here.”</p>
<p>He could hear in her voice how much she wanted to hug him.</p>
<p>He dropped his head in his hands again, taking deep breaths.</p>
<p>“it was Kaldur.”</p>
<p>Alex was silent.</p>
<p>“what?” she said, voice small and quiet.</p>
<p>“Kaldur. He… killed her… he stabbed her right in- the chest, and,” he took a deep breath, “Alex, I can’t- I can’t, I don’t… I can’t do this,” he took a deep breath, “I can’t.”</p>
<p>“Dick, just… have a shower.”</p>
<p>He nodded.</p>
<p>“take off your gear, have a shower, drink some water,” she said these things slow and slightly lower than her usual speaking volume, “take some sleeping pills, conk yourself out. Maybe have a drink beforehand.”</p>
<p>He nodded.</p>
<p>“and just… try to avoid Kaldur till you’re ready.”</p>
<p>Dick nodded, “okay.”</p>
<p>“okay?”</p>
<p>“yeah.”</p>
<p>“alright, I’m here, okay?”</p>
<p>Dick nodded.</p>
<p>“I love you.”</p>
<p>“I love you too.”</p>
<p>Alex gave him a sad smile, “You’ll be able to come home soon, okay? And we can hug and I’ll stock up on your favourite junk food and we can play video games and binge some movies and forget about how sucky life is, okay?”</p>
<p>Dick laughed slightly and it once more turned into an edged sob, “okay.”</p>
<p>“hey.”</p>
<p>He looked up.</p>
<p>“I’m here, dude, it’s gonna be okay.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Kaldur could feel Wally and Barbara’s eyes on his back as he walked into the ship. The hatch closed and they walked down, the ship sinking into the waves.</p>
<p>This was when it got harder. It only got more dangerous from here.</p>
<p>“it went well,” Artemis said, “all to plan.”</p>
<p>“I know.”</p>
<p>“then why are you so stressed?”</p>
<p>Kaldur let a breath of air out of his nose in what could have been a laugh if he’d had more energy.</p>
<p>“take a guess.”</p>
<p>Artemis smiled, she rested a hand on his shoulder.</p>
<p>“we’ve got this.”</p>
<p>Kaldur didn’t turn or look at her, “it’s not about that.”</p>
<p>“then what’s it about?”</p>
<p>Kaldur swallowed, “you didn’t see Conner’s face, or M’gann’s.”</p>
<p>Artemis’ face dropped, “yeah.”</p>
<p>Kaldur sighed and closed his eyes, dropping his head and letting his shoulders droop.</p>
<p>“we can do this, Kal, I promise you, it’ll be fine.”</p>
<p>Kaldur finally looked at her, finding only support in her expression. He tried for a smile, it didn’t reach his eyes, and placed his hand on Artemis’ where it rested on his shoulder.</p>
<p>The ship connected to his private spot in the submarine, where no one would know he’d gone or come.</p>
<p>He guided Artemis onto the ship.</p>
<p>“I’ve already sent word to everyone, they knew you’d be arriving.”</p>
<p>“good, makes this less complicated,” she said, “do I get a tour?”</p>
<p>“yes,” he said, showing her down one hall, “but first maybe head to bed, or settle into your quarters, I’ll show you around tomorrow. I have to have a call with my father.”</p>
<p>Artemis made a face, Kaldur shared it.</p>
<p>They walked down another two halls and Kaldur once again realised his mistake. It was the exact same one he’d made before, he couldn’t believe he hadn’t learned his lesson.</p>
<p>They turned and found him standing there, this time not even pretending to be nonchalant and obviously waiting for them.</p>
<p>“and this is Renegade,” Kaldur said, watching the man with a raised eyebrow.</p>
<p>Renegade stood from his leaning position against the wall, arms still crossed. He was wearing a mask with some casual gear- a term only a vigilante could use without realising the ridiculous-ness of it.</p>
<p>“Evening,” he said, without any of the grandeur Kaldur had come to expect of him, nor any of the snark.</p>
<p>Artemis’ expression remained cool and neutral, but she nodded a greeting and said, “Tigress.”</p>
<p>“right, yeah, the boss man mentioned you’d be around.”</p>
<p>Renegade levelled a cold look on Kaldur and he was almost shocked by it. he couldn’t decipher why. It was almost as if there was once an open door in Renegade’s expression and it had now been slammed shut and locked.</p>
<p>He then looked back at Artemis. Kaldur would say he looked curious if it weren’t for the lack of emotion on his face.</p>
<p>“If you’ll excuse me,” Renegade began, as if he’d been interrupted, “I was about to make my way to the training room to work off my insomnia, I’ll see you when we’re planning to kill someone.”</p>
<p>He then brushed past the two, not giving them a second glance.</p>
<p>Kaldur knew he couldn’t let that pass, it was far too brusque. Any leader in his position would pull Renegade up for it, he knew the character Kaldur had created for himself would as well. He didn’t want to be that character in front of Artemis, though.</p>
<p>She gave him a look.</p>
<p>He turned around to look at Renegade’s retreating form.</p>
<p>And then he remembered the way he’d looked at him, devoid and like he didn’t know who Kaldur was, and the words died on his tongue. Once he was out of earshot Artemis turned to Kaldur.</p>
<p>“he knows something’s off.”</p>
<p>Kaldur nodded, “definitely.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dick got back from his time in the gym and sat on his bed.</p>
<p>Tigress.</p>
<p>She looked like no one he knew, at all. He’d never heard of her. That unsettled him, and at the thought that maybe there was something he could do to get his mind off the events of the day before…</p>
<p>Well, to say he jumped at the chance was an understatement.</p>
<p>He pulled out his gear and got to working, looking through every file he had access to, when he found nothing he cracked open every database he could get his hands on. Tigress didn’t exist. She never had.</p>
<p>Where had Aqualad found her?</p>
<p>And why was he so neutral and calm and nonchalant after he had <em>killed one of his best friends?</em></p>
<p>Dick shut that thought down quick but nevertheless his throat ached with the feeling of tears. He took a deep breath to steady himself, looking back at his computer.</p>
<p>No history, no MO, no files, nothing. For all intents and purposes, Tigress did not exist.</p>
<p>He sifted through his databases looking for people of her style. Black hair, dark eyes, seemed to be of Asian descent, maybe south-east Asian? He found a few people, most in the league of assassins, none were Tigress.</p>
<p>Adder, Lorretta Norden, Mio, Nasreen Samari, Eirya, Sandra Wusan, Cheshire, Huntress.</p>
<p>He stared at the files for Cheshire and Huntress. Jade Ngyuyen, Paula Crock. Artemis’ family. Her sister and her mother.</p>
<p>He wondered if they knew yet. He wondered if maybe he ought to get in contact with Jade. She’d renounced the league but even still, it wouldn’t be hard to track her down. He didn’t know her and he couldn’t run the risk of tipping himself off, but also… maybe he should check in?</p>
<p>He stopped himself from following that train of thought- no way could he do that. It was bad enough that he’d probably brought Kaldur’s suspicion on him already, he didn’t need to make it worse.</p>
<p>Something itched at his mind. He stared at the icon for Huntress.</p>
<p>No way. Impossible.</p>
<p>Tigress looked nothing like Artemis. It wasn’t a case of hair dye and contacts, Dick <em>knew </em>what one of his best friends looked like. Whether he’d seen her recently or not, he still knew, and that was not Artemis.</p>
<p>But magic was a thing. Magic was a possibility.</p>
<p>
  <em>‘Shut up!’ </em>
</p>
<p>He was in denial. That’s what he was. He was in denial because he didn’t want to believe that Artemis was dead. He didn’t want to believe that Kaldur had killed Artemis.</p>
<p>He did not want to believe.</p>
<p>And maybe that’s what this all was. Him not wanting to believe in any of it.</p>
<p>He’d told his family that Kaldur was a double agent because he did not want to believe that he was truly a traitor. He was now telling himself that Artemis was alive and undercover as Tigress because he did not want to believe that Kaldur had killed her.</p>
<p>Something had to give.</p>
<p>Of course… he may just be working on limited information. there was only so much he could access from one computer in the middle of the ocean.</p>
<p>He looked to his phone and he made a call.</p>
<p>
  <em>“hey, hey, big bro, what’s up?”</em>
</p>
<p>“I’m gonna need a favour.”</p>
<p>
  <em>“oooh, that’s gonna cost ya’.”</em>
</p>
<p>Dick rolled his eyes, “you can have my desert for a month.”</p>
<p>
  <em>“I already get your desert cause you’re away, try again.”</em>
</p>
<p>Dick snorted. He couldn’t help but be glad of the teasing nature of the conversation. Alex was a great help, but she immediately treated him as fragile. Which was great when he’d broken down crying in front of her, but when he called her that morning it wasn’t what he was looking for.</p>
<p>“how about when I get back I’ll buy you that console you want so badly.”</p>
<p>
  <em>“what’d you need?”</em>
</p>
<p>Dick snickered, “okay, gonna need you to do some research for me. Don’t tell anyone.”</p>
<p>
  <em>“easy, what on? Will there be a test?”</em>
</p>
<p>“no. I need you to search up an assassin, Tigress. Find me everything you can, tell me tomorrow, sound good?”</p>
<p>
  <em>“sounds suspiciously easy.”</em>
</p>
<p>“We’ll talk then, see you little bird.”</p>
<p>
  <em>“don’t call me that.”</em>
</p>
<p>“whatever you say squirt.”</p>
<p>He hung up and turned off the tabs of his computer, covering his tracks.</p>
<p>If Tigress existed then she’d be <em>somewhere </em>in their data base.</p>
<p>And if not, Dick had some investigating to do.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. The Road Travelled Rarely</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>everything's about to unravel very quickly, and if our heroes can't build bridges fast enough they're going to be swept away.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>
<a id="_Toc51932406" name="_Toc51932406"></a><strong>The Road Travelled Rarely</strong>
</h1><h2>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932407" name="_Toc51932407"></a>How I Disappear</strong>
</h2><p> </p><p>The phone rang, the screen lighting up and buzzing on the table. Wally hit the end call button and flipped the phone so the screen was down against the table.</p><p>“hey, sir, what can I get you?”</p><p>“hm?” Wally looked up from his computer screen at the waitress of the café, “oh, uh, yeah, can I get a medium flat white?”</p><p>“any sugars?” she scribbled on her paper pad.</p><p>“uh, two, full cream milk.”</p><p>“cool, I’ll have that out for you soon, sir.”</p><p>“thanks,” Wally forced a flashy smile as she walked away.</p><p>He turned back to the computer and continued typing his assignment. it was his final year and he wanted to end it with a bang, if that was possible when he’d been stuck in bed for six months for a while there. He forgot a word he wanted to use and rubbed at his face as he tried to remember it, his glasses askew once his hands came away.</p><p>He procrastinated from looking at his screen again by cleaning his glasses. When he looked back at the screen it hadn’t magically changed and he considered just flunking the entire class out of spite.</p><p>He sighed and closed the laptop.</p><p>His phone rang again. Wally scowled and checked who it was, the same as the last call, Barry. He hit decline and flipped the phone again.</p><p>The phone rang again. Wally hit decline again. It rang again. He hit decline again.</p><p>It rang again. God dammit Barry was being persistent.</p><p>Wally picked it up.</p><p>
  <em>“What?”</em>
</p><p>There was silence.</p><p>
  <em>“I genuinely didn’t think you’d pick up.”</em>
</p><p>Wally rolled his eyes and rested his head on his hand, “well you called so many times I figured I’d have to if I wanted my phone to stop.”</p><p>
  <em>“uh, well… yeah.”</em>
</p><p>“so to repeat my prior statement- <em>what</em>?”</p><p>“we found Roy.”</p><p>Wally almost dropped the phone.</p><p>“You… what?”</p><p>
  <em>“we found him.”</em>
</p><p>Wally stared into nothing, the waitress placed his drink on the table and gave him a half-grimace half-smile, likely guessing he was getting bad news.</p><p>
  <em>“we, uh… figured we’d try a sort of, intervention. Ollie and Dinah called me to tell you, seeing as you’d probably want to be there. I don’t know who else should be, but maybe you will?”</em>
</p><p>Wally could think of some names, getting them there would be harder. Kaldur, Artemis, Dick. He couldn’t express the feeling he had inside, he didn’t have the words. It was a black hole of nothing, slowly pulling him in piece by piece, taking every last ounce of his mind and soul. And yet it was also a crushing rock of everything, an insurmountable weight upon his shoulders that grew heavier with every step, but he could not stop walking forward. it was a simultaneous experience that contradicted every word he could give it and only lead him in a confusing and turning race that he could never win nor finish.</p><p>In other words, it was grief. It was emotion. It was endless suffering. It was the eternal feeling of humanity.</p><p>It would drive him crazy if he sat there without saying anything for much longer.</p><p>“I’ll text Oliver.”</p><p><em>“okay,”</em> Barry said, <em>“I, uh… do you want to talk… about it? I’m here.”</em></p><p>“yeah, thanks, bye.”</p><p>He clicked end call and swept everything into his bag. Grabbed the mug and walked up to the desk.</p><p>“uh, hi, sorry,” he gave an awkward smile to the barista behind the counter, “is it possible I could get this in a take-away cup?”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>When Wally West was fifteen he was what Roy liked to think of as ‘energy and passion made physical and shoved into a brain of sheer happiness then placed inside a human meatsuit made to be the most goofy and caring person possible’. At the time, he was probably right.</p><p>Now, on the other hand…</p><p>Roy didn’t know why he’d come, didn’t know why he’d agreed to this, didn’t know why he was even in America right now, he’d followed every lead in this country he could find.</p><p>Really the only reason he came was because the sender of the email was Wally. If it was Oliver, Dinah, Superman, hell <em>Jade,</em> he wouldn’t have come.</p><p>Oliver and Dinah’s little intervention was still fresh in his mind. He wasn’t guilty but some small part of him kept thinking about what he’d said. <em>‘you want to salvage someone’s soul? Go get Kaldur to see the light.’</em></p><p>He didn’t regret it, but a small part of him was hung up on it for some reason.</p><p>Really there were two people who he’d have come for, if he saw their names on that email. One had been gone for years. One was standing in front of him.</p><p>Roy hadn’t realised just how different Wally was till now. He was no longer energy and love and happiness dressed up as a human. Now he looked… tired. That was the best word he could think of. Tired and sad and worn out and beyond… everything.</p><p>This time Roy agreed to Wally’s terms, instead of meting on a roof. It wasn’t a cafe like Wally had suggested so many years ago, instead a park. Wally was sitting on a bench, phone in hand. He was wearing his usual mix of warm tones, a red hooded jacket the first thing Roy laid eyes on. He had thin framed glasses on, his phone screen mirrored on the slightly chrome-tinted surface.</p><p>Roy was not necessarily clean shaven, but seeing as he was in civvies he had taken a shower at the motel he was staying at and combed his hair. Well, ran his fingers threw his hair then tied it back.</p><p>“morning,” Wally greeted.</p><p>“get to the point,” Roy answered.</p><p>Wally snorted and put his phone in his pocket. As his head moved Roy finally saw the side of his face he hadn’t already noticed, the side he had forgotten wasn’t the same as the other.</p><p>The scar was an angry swathe of skin down the side of his face and chin, spread down his neck and likely well past his collarbone, but Roy couldn’t see anything past his jacket. It creeped close to his eye, managing to attack some of his eyebrow only. Although it seemed the damage had effected his vision somehow, considering the glasses resting on the bridge of his nose.</p><p>“do I need to have a point? Is it not enough that I wanted to talk to one of my childhood best friends?”</p><p>“no,” Roy said, “I have better things to do, West.”</p><p>“right, yeah, looking for <em>‘the original Roy Harper’</em>.”</p><p>“don’t say it like that.”</p><p>“why?”</p><p>“because you’re obviously making fun of it,” Roy said, “and if you keep that up I’ll just leave.”</p><p>“chill, we’re not so different at the moment,” Wally said, “you’re looking for the OG Speedy, I’m looking for the OG Robin.”</p><p>Roy snorted, “good luck with that.”</p><p>Wally laughed through his nose.</p><p>“do you remember what you told me when Dick first disappeared?”</p><p>Roy’s face was as stony as ever, “no.”</p><p>Wally smiled slightly, in a forced way that didn’t reach his eyes. Even still, when the smile dropped Roy missed it. “you said that I was hurt and spiteful, my actions in that moment were driven by that. It was a pretty blunt emotional moment on my side, on yours it was just plain truth.”</p><p>“I’ll repeat myself, get to the point,” Roy sneered.</p><p>Wally leaned back in his seat, “you don’t think you deserve anything that you have been given or offered because you feel not only like an imposter but also a traitor. You’re search for ‘the original Roy Harper’ is just a way of you attempting to prove to yourself that you’re worth the life you’ve been given, which is why you lashed out at us all when we closed the search.”</p><p>Roy didn’t speak, just glowered. Wally levelled a heavy stare on him, looking directly at him so Roy had to marry up the left and right side of his friend’s face, scar and all.</p><p>“you took it to mean that, if and when you eventually achieved your goal, it wouldn’t mean anything to us and you would never be able to prove that you were anyone worth our time or trust.</p><p>Roy clenched his jaw, “are you done?”</p><p>“no, because I want you to understand, Roy,” Wally said, shifting in his seat and leaning in, “that you are the only Roy Harper I have and probably ever will know, and even though it is still a tragedy that you are a clone of an original who cannot be found, I have emotionally matured enough to live my life with that sadness in mind. It’s time for you to learn to do that.”</p><p>Roy sat in silence for one moment, “did you just tell me to <em>grow up</em>?”</p><p>“I’m telling you that the past six years of throwing your self-worth into an insurmountable goal was an incredibly stupid idea and you’re being an idiot,” Wally said, “<em>and </em>you need to grow up.”</p><p>Roy scowled, “thank you so much for your wisdom oh great sensei West, are you finished or can I not go and throw up now?”</p><p>Wally sighed, “whatever, I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to word-barf on you, but I’ve been proven wrong. I was also hoping to have a talk with an old friend for the first time in literal years, but I guess not.”</p><p>Roy crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair, “that’s great, good for you.”</p><p>Wally stood from the chair with a disappointed sigh.</p><p>“are you at least going to try and make it to Artemis’ funeral?”</p><p>Roy froze.</p><p>
  <em>“What?”</em>
</p><p>Wally blinked.</p><p>“you didn’t know?”</p><p>Roy stood, “Artemis’ <em>funeral?”</em></p><p>Wally took a deep breath and closed his eyes, “I don’t think I can have this conversation with you.”</p><p>“what the hell is that supposed to mean?!”</p><p>“It <em>means</em>,” Wally said, eyes turning furious and burning, “that I can’t talk about this with you without breaking down, so just,” Wally cut off and pinched the bridge of his nose, focusing on his breathing, “just…”</p><p>“how?”</p><p>Wally looked, for a moment, like the most conflicted person in the world.</p><p>Eventually he looked up at Roy and said, with tears threatening to spill, “Kaldur.”</p><p>Roy was quite sure the ground fell out from under him.</p><p> </p><p> </p><h2>
<a id="_Toc51932408" name="_Toc51932408"></a><strong>Alice’s Rabbit Hole</strong>
</h2><p> </p><p> </p><p>Kaldur sighed as he placed his helmet on the table. The stuffy air of the ship didn’t feel as good as fresh air on-land and he severely missed it. he rubbed at his eyes as he sat down, Artemis taking the other seat.</p><p>“I’ve been researching Renegade,” she said as a conversation opener.</p><p>“what?”</p><p>She shrugged, “what else did you want me to do?”</p><p>Kaldur blinked, “okay, sure, have you found anything out?”</p><p>Artemis sighed as she leaned back into the chair, “not much, just more evidence of what we already know. He’s been in the game for about six years now, amazing record, highly trusted by Ra’s and several other big-timers in the field.”</p><p>“so nothing we can use against him?”</p><p>“see, that’s the thing,” she leaned forward, “he came out of nowhere way back when, the light didn’t even really know who he was when he filed into their ranks three years ago.”</p><p>“okay,” Kaldur frowned, “and?”</p><p>“and so I dug into how he got into the league of assassins,” she smirked, “his dad was Ra’s last guard, disappeared <em>off the map</em> like, never heard from again, like, twenty-five years ago, then all of a sudden his kid shows up?”</p><p>Kaldur sighed, “yeah, that’s strange, but I don’t know how we can use it.”</p><p>Artemis shrugged, “technically, we can’t, <em>yet</em>,” she leaned her head on her hand, “but my sister is in with the league, remember? She can ask some questions, if we play it well enough. She can’t know I’m alive, it’ll just be like a mission from some rando. But the league, they use names, remember? She can do some digging.”</p><p>“quite possibly,” Kaldur mused, “but we can’t tip him off. He may have minimal contact with the league at the moment, but that’s still enough to find out about people getting nosy about him.”</p><p>“yeah,” Artemis smirked, “which is why I did some recon in the tech department, unlike me, I know, but,” she pulled out a device, “I know enough to gain access to his communications.”</p><p>Kaldur eyed the device in her hands, “you want to spy on his personal conversations?”</p><p>“just the ones that are long-distance. They’ve got to be important.”</p><p>Kaldur sighed and leaned back in his chair, “okay, but be careful about this.”</p><p>“when am I ever not careful?”</p><p>“don’t make me answer that.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Jade was staring at the tombstone with a look of fury.</p><p>In her arms was Lian, peacefully sleeping. She hadn’t been able to get a sitter and she honestly didn’t care, some small part of her told her to bring Lian along. Artemis deserved some of her family at her funeral.</p><p>“Manta will pay for this,” she said, knowing her father had snuck up behind her.</p><p>“of course,” he said, “and his twerp son, too. I didn’t give him permission to kill my little girl, I can’t look soft.”</p><p>Jade had to fight a snarl, “because all you care about is your reputation,” she hissed, “she was your <em>daughter</em>.”</p><p>“don’t flatter yourself Jade, this isn’t the Brady Bunch.”</p><p>Jade levelled a glare on him, “well, let’s put it this way, you take Manta and I get Aqualad.”</p><p>Her father’s eyes gave away the smile on his face beneath the mask, “I can work with that.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Batgirl sighed as she took a step back from the holograms. As was expected the team had been in turmoil and anyone with some sense left had pushed to have a new leader instated before they were taken by surprise. And she was chosen.</p><p>Sure, Conner could help and Megan could help and there were others who could help. But also, she was tired. She was stressed. She was <em>beyond </em>okay.</p><p>But the team needed her, so a stiff upper lip it was.</p><p>“hey, BG,” Mal greeted as he stepped up behind her, “working ‘round the clock?”</p><p>“something like that,” she sighed, “I’ve got a few ideas for missions, where is everyone?”</p><p>She needed to keep track, she needed to know where everyone was. At any moment Kaldur could come in, as was planned. Communications had been minimal since Artemis’ ‘death’ but so far the plan was still for him to storm the mountain and use the chance to give her a tracker for L’Gann. She hoped she’d be able to remove any inhibitor collars. Theoretically she could, but she didn’t have much practice.</p><p>Not for the first time, she missed Dick.</p><p>“they’re in the grotto,” Mal said, and she almost jumped at the words. She’d been lost in thought, she couldn’t let that happen.</p><p>“right,” she sighed, “of course.”</p><p> </p><p>Tim wasn’t paying attention to Blue Beetle and Impulse and all the others, he was just staring at the hologram before him.</p><p>The only plaques in the grotto were the ones that stated the name of the hero and their birth and death dates. The team didn’t even know that the second Robin had been Jason Todd.</p><p>Tim had stared at this hologram a lot of times. He didn’t know what it was that forced his eyes to stay on the translucent features, but some small part of him was transfixed.</p><p>He wondered what it was like, to have only had one predecessor who had just suddenly taken off out of the blue. Had he worried that Richard Grayson would one day return? Had he worried that he could lose his position at any moment?</p><p>Had he worried that he was not good enough to be Robin?</p><p>Tim liked to imagine that he did. He didn’t know why.</p><p>He also didn’t know why the league refused to put up a hologram of Richard Grayson, the first Robin. It seemed ridiculous, it had been six years and no sign and yet they all had unanimously decided that he was still alive. There were no ifs, buts or maybes. He was still alive.</p><p>Which made Tim wonder what kind of person he was. To just leave and never come back, all without a word. They were in the middle of an invasion and he was still gone.</p><p>He didn’t know of he should look up to someone like that.</p><p>“did you know him?”</p><p>If it weren’t for his training he’d have jumped. Beside him was Impulse, Bart Allen. He was looking at the hologram with a strange expression.</p><p>“no,” Tim answered, “I didn’t.”</p><p>Bart nodded, “cool, cool.”</p><p>The strange expression was still there, as if Bart couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. Or as if he was keeping a secret. Either way he was deep in thought.</p><p>“are secret identities really not such big deals in your time?”</p><p>“hm?” he blinked and looked at Tim, “oh, yeah, no. pretty much everyone’s names are common knowledge. The history books are <em>extensive</em>.”</p><p>“and confusing, I’m sure.”</p><p>Bart huffed a laugh, “oh yeah.”</p><p>Tim studied his face, looking for every piece of emotion he could find.</p><p>“Barry’s dead in your future, isn’t he?”</p><p>He said it quietly, voice ever so tiny. Even still, Bart jumped.</p><p>“What? No! what made you think that? That’s ridiculous, impossible,” he smiled, watching Tim’s face. He realised Tim couldn’t be fooled and deflated, face going dark, “yeah, yeah he is.”</p><p>Tim nodded, “I see.”</p><p>“that’s all you have to say? ‘I see’?”</p><p>Tim nodded, “u-huh.”</p><p>Bart blinked, “this is why the textbooks say you should have been batman, you know.”</p><p>“they do not,” Tim said with disbelief.</p><p>“okay, well, they say that you’d be good at it, and you were a better detective than Bruce,” he corrected, “I had a friend who wrote an assignment on who would be best to inherit the cowl.”</p><p>“no you didn’t.”</p><p>“no I didn’t,” Bart grumbled, “but she wanted to, shut up.”</p><p>Tim snorted.</p><p>Bart sighed, “just…”</p><p>Tim looked at him once more, forcing his eyes away from the hologram of Jason Todd.</p><p>“keep an open mind, you know? And uh…” he rubbed at the back of his neck, “you know, uh, future stuff.”</p><p>Tim raised an eyebrow, “okay?”</p><p>Bart’s face turned slightly pink with embarrassment, and then he zoomed off to Blue Beetle’s side.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Okay bird-boy, what have you got?”</p><p>Jason was frowning on the other side of the screen.</p><p>“you’ve given me a stupid task.” That was evident seeing as he’d put off giving a report for a week.</p><p>Dick snickered and crossed his arms, leaning back in the chair, “so, little success, then?”</p><p>Jason sighed, “I’ve searched for ‘Tigress’ literally <em>everywhere</em>, she doesn’t <em>exist.</em> She’s just… popped out of nowhere,” he grumbled, moving his hands about in frustration.</p><p>“okay, but…” Dick said, raising his eyebrows, “surely there’s more than that?”</p><p>Jason grumbled, “dude, it’d be easier to research a dead man who did nothing with his life than whoever this <em>Tigress </em>person is.”</p><p>Dick sighed, “have you asked Alex for help?”</p><p>“see that’s thing,” Jason leaned forward, “when I say there’s nothing, I mean, <em>nothing. </em>I didn’t just stick her name in a few search bars, I asked around. Alex hasn’t heard of her, Slade hasn’t heard of her, there isn’t a single person in Nanda Parbat who knows who Tigress is. And I took a photograph with me. There was one person who straight up told me it was just huntress in a slightly different costume.”</p><p>Dick hummed, looking off into the distance in thought.</p><p>“but dude, Slade says he recognises this.”</p><p>Dick looked up, Jason shared a video from his screen to Dick’s. it was a playback of Tigress fighting that Dick had sent Jason. She moved in a way that was familiar to Dick, but it didn’t seem overly personal to Tigress. It was as if she had been taught by someone so severely that she just adopted their fighting style instead of turning it into her own.</p><p>“he says it looks like Sportsmaster.”</p><p>Dick looked at Jason with a raised eyebrow, “Sportsmaster?”</p><p>“he swears it, up and down, and you and I both know what he’s like when it comes to his word.”</p><p>“mmm.”</p><p>Jason blinked as he watched his older brother, “what’s with the face?”</p><p>Dick smirked, “nothing, just a ridiculous theory of mine that may prove true.”</p><p>“care to share with the class?”</p><p>“no,” he smiled, “it’s past your bedtime anyway, Jay-bird, so unless you wanna pass the phone to Alex it’s time to hang up.”</p><p>Jason groaned, “I’m seventeen.”</p><p>“you’re fifteen, you were dead for two years.”</p><p>“fuck you too, owl man.”</p><p>“don’t start with that.”</p><p>Jason blew a raspberry and hung up.</p><p> </p><p> </p><h2>
<a id="_Toc51932409" name="_Toc51932409"></a><strong>Troubled Waters</strong>
</h2><p> </p><p>Artemis clicked the button and the screen dissolved.</p><p>She didn’t turn, didn’t speak, didn’t put the device in her hand down. She just stared at the empty space where the screen had been.</p><p>Kaldur sat behind her, eyes trailed exactly where hers were. The silence stretched. The sounds of creaking metal surrounding them as water brushed past the sides of the ship. Aside from that and the whir of technology and their breaths the loudest sound they registered was the ring in their ears.</p><p>“Jason…” Kaldur’s voice was air, there was only the barest sound drifting to Artemis’ ears.</p><p>She nodded, mute.</p><p>Artemis turned slowly, no grace left in her just the mechanic bare bones movement of someone paying no attention to anything but the emptiness int their heads. She placed the device on Kaldur’s desk and paced slowly between it and the wall, slow steps. One, a breath. Two, an exhale. Three, a breath. Four, an exhale and a turn.</p><p>Kaldur leaned forward, head in his hands, elbows against his knees.</p><p>The ring in Artemis’ ears expanded tenfold. She wanted a cacophony of breath, a pound of blood in her ears, a beat from her heart. Everything was quiet, she wanted the rush. Everything was quiet and it was driving her insane-</p><p>She turned and punched the wall.</p><p>The metal boomed, ringing and bouncing and echoing. The bones in her hand crunched and cracked and her arm spasmed as she coiled in on herself, hand cradled to her chest. She was winded, no air wanted to move in and out. She thought it was the injury but when hot tears spilled over her cheeks she realised it was because her throat was throbbing and clogged with emotion, hysteria. Nothing was getting past but the small sounds of sobs starting to bubble up.</p><p>Kaldur eyed the floor between his feet, mind running itself in circles from one thought to another.</p><p>“He’s alive,” Kaldur eventually said.</p><p>Artemis nodded mutely, “he’s alive.”</p><p>“and Ra’s has him.”</p><p>Artemis looked up, watching as Kaldur slowly unwound himself from the seat and stood, running his hand along his head.</p><p>Artemis started to stand and Kaldur held a hand out. She took a moment to realise he wasn’t offering her help up and was instead telling her to stay down. He let his hand drop, hitting the side of his leg with a dull slap as he looked away, shaking his head.</p><p>Artemis settled into a cross-legged position, hand still cradled close to her chest. she stared into the distance, the metal of the ship settled, the echoes finally diminished and gone. Kaldur sat beside her, backwards so they were facing each other, with his legs in front of him and slouched so his elbows were against his legs.</p><p>Artemis was still, unmoving as she said, “he was fine, healthy,” she blinked, “he was <em>teasing Renegade.</em> Helping him do <em>research?</em> He… Renegade called him <em>Jay-bird?</em>”</p><p>Tears slipped out again, running straight down her chin without any difficulty, following the path of the tears that had already run.</p><p>“he never let me call him <em>jay-bird</em>.”</p><p>Kaldur swallowed, feeling tears threatening to spill, pricking at the corners of his eyes. He didn’t know what to do, what to say. He should stand, he should clear his throat. He should say ‘this is a security issue’. He should say ‘Renegade is suspicious, we need to remove him’. he should <em>be a leader.</em></p><p>But he couldn’t. he couldn’t, he couldn’t, he couldn’t.</p><p>Renegade and his assassin league, Ra’s and Slade and…</p><p>They’d stolen Jason, ripped him from his coffin, thrown him in the Lazarus pits. They’d twisted him into someone who gave them trust and friendship. Hatred and loathing and rage bubbled up inside Kaldur, the face it was aimed at was Renegade’s. the dark hair and the smirk and the flashy smile and the bright blue eyes…</p><p>And at the memory of his face, of his teasing expression, the hate crumbled. The expression he’d had when talking to Jason, the happiness, the lack of weight on his shoulders, made something in Kaldur ache. There was something that recognised the voice. Something that recognised the eyes. Something that recognised <em>person.</em></p><p>He <em>knew him. he knew Renegade, he had to, he had to, he had to.</em></p><p>He had to find a distraction. <em>Now. </em></p><p>“who is Alex?”</p><p>Artemis was silent for a long time before she realised he was talking to her.</p><p>“she…” she blinked, shaking her head as if the motion would shake away the memory of Jason’s smiling face, of his still morbid expression when he’d been laid in his coffin, “she’s…” she cleared her throat, “a guard. Ra’s Al Ghul’s personal guard.”</p><p>“so renegade would know her.”</p><p>“reports suggests they’re siblings. Alex is Thalia’s daughter, unknown father.”</p><p>Kaldur nodded, “okay.”</p><p>He needed a new distraction.</p><p>“so Renegade is Richard Al Ghul?” that sounded wrong. Something about those two names together didn’t fit.</p><p>Artemis shook her head, “no… no, they’re half siblings. Same father, different mothers.”</p><p>“who’s Richard’s?”</p><p>“not sure.”</p><p>Kaldur nodded.</p><p>“I’m going to find out.”</p><p>“what?”</p><p>Kaldur was still looking into the distance, “I’m going to find out,” he said, “we need to check air traffic before we raid the mountain, I’ll take him.”</p><p>“Kal,” Artemis sighed, “are you sure?”</p><p>“entirely.”</p><p>“but-“</p><p>“I need to know who he is.” Kaldur’s voice was stony, impenetrable. Artemis knew that this must be something personal, or at least not entirely professional.</p><p>“I know him,” Kaldur said, “I’m <em>sure </em>of it.”</p><p>Artemis nodded, “he’s… familiar.”</p><p>Kaldur nodded.</p><p>Artemis eyed Kaldur, for the first time taking her eyes away from the nothing in front of her.</p><p>“be careful of him.”</p><p>“I am.”</p><p>“Kal,” she said, “I see the way you look at him.”</p><p>His head snapped to Artemis, “<em>what?</em>”</p><p>Artemis smiled sadly, “I don’t judge, he’s pretty good looking.”</p><p>“Artemis-“</p><p>“Kaldur.”</p><p>Kaldur clenched his jaw as he looked away.</p><p>“he’s a snake,” she said, “you think you’ve got a hold of him, but he’s been coiling round you and he’ll strangle you if you’re not careful.”</p><p>Kaldur nodded.</p><p>He still needed a distraction, he didn’t want to stand yet. Instead he asked Artemis another question.</p><p>“do you know what the Court of Owls are?”</p><p>Her eyes blew wide, “why on earth would you ask me that.”</p><p>“pretend I don’t need a reason.”</p><p>“they’re… for lack of a better term, a cult,” she said, “an old Gotham myth. Supposedly made up of powerful members of Gotham’s aristocracy, ruling it in the shadows. They had an immortal army of assassins.”</p><p>Kaldur swallowed, his gut turned cold.</p><p>“why?”</p><p>Kaldur looked up, where the screen had been.</p><p>“did they get along with the league of assassins?”</p><p>“they’re a myth, Kal, and if they did exist you can’t ask them for help.”</p><p>“answer the question,” Kaldur said, quiet, “please.”</p><p>Artemis pursed her lips, “no. they did not.”</p><p>Kaldur looked away again, frowning. He pulled his legs in and sat cross-legged.</p><p>“why are you asking me this?”</p><p>“Renegade,” Kaldur said, “apparently… he said- when… he escaped the Court of Owls, with their… powers. Some kind of healing.”</p><p>“electrum. They used it to revive corpses and turn them into emotionless killers that could regenerate from pretty much anything.”</p><p>Kaldur nodded, “according to Richard, it doesn’t go well with Lazarus.”</p><p>“there is no way-“</p><p>“I saw it,” Kaldur said, looking at Artemis, “his eyes were gold and he was pale and he wasn’t in his right mind. He snapped out of it but…”</p><p>Artemis looked away, eyes wide, “Jesus.”</p><p>“yeah.”</p><p>“we’re fucked,” she said, “we’re so fucked. you can’t beat a Talon.”</p><p>Kaldur blinked, “what?”</p><p>“that’s what their assassins were called. Talons. Be careful with him,” Artemis said, and if Kaldur didn’t know her he’d say she was scared, “really careful.”</p><p>“I heard you the first time.”</p><p>“I mean it, Kal,” she said, “be. Careful.”</p><p>Kaldur nodded and stood.</p><p>“where are you going?”</p><p>Kaldur eyed the door, “I have a mission to Happy Harbour to plan.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><h2>
<a id="_Toc51932410" name="_Toc51932410"></a><strong>The Archimedean</strong>
</h2><p> </p><p>Richard was not expecting the summons, but he couldn’t be entirely unsurprised. If he was being honest, he was surprised it had taken this long.</p><p>Nevertheless, he pretended to be surprised when he made his way to the communications bay and took the call. Lex Luthor sat before him.</p><p>“to what do I owe the pleasure?” Richard asked.</p><p>“nothing personal, my boy, although it is a shame I have not been able to catch up with you since your visit to Bee’s manor,” Luthor said, smiling. Richard hated how easy it seemed to be for the millionaire to keep an easy expression, “alas, I speak with you as an ambassador from our fellow members.”</p><p>“I see,” Richard said, “well, I’d love to help our benevolent leaders, what can I do for you?”</p><p>Lex allowed amusement to dance across his face, momentarily. Then schooled his features and came back to the topic at hand.</p><p>“In the wake of recent events, the light has considered our current… enforcers. Although the assistance from Ra’s Al Ghul is greatly needed, we still require the support of those such as Sportsmaster.”</p><p>“I am aware of this.”</p><p>“yes, I’m sure,” Luthor said, “and I’m sure you’re also well aware of what kind of person Sportsmaster is,” he steepled his hands, “hence, the light has had some… considerations.”</p><p>“you wish to change Sportsmaster’s employment situation,” Richard said, allowing the smallest of smiles to escape the professional standard, “understandable. He has been known to be… rash.”</p><p>“mmm,” Luthor hummed, “The Light has considered, seeing as Kaldur has more than proven himself, to promote you to Sportsmaster’s current position.”</p><p>Richard genuinely didn’t know how to react to that.</p><p>“I see you are… overwhelmed?”</p><p>
  <em>Why can’t anyone ever be just whelmed?</em>
</p><p>“uh, that’s one way to… put it.”</p><p>Lex chuckled slightly, the way all rich white men chuckled, “you’re interested?”</p><p>Richard blinked, took a breath and composed himself. He knew exactly what he had to say in this situation.</p><p>“I am thankful for the opportunity, however,” Richard said, making sure he got the word in before Lex could interrupt, “I already have a full-time job and position as Thalia Al Ghul’s personal guard. once The Light is happy to remove me from my temporary position alongside Kaldur’Ahm I will return to my place in Nanda Parbat.”</p><p>Lex raised an eyebrow, “but, my boy, this would be a… noticeable promotion of power. As an enforcer of The Light-“</p><p>“I am not interested in promotions, Luthor,” Richard said, “my place is with the Al Ghul family. Although,” he said, and allowed a small smile, “I think you’ll find Deathstroke is looking for something to take up extra time, since he stepped down as Ra’s personal guard to allow Alex to take the position.”</p><p>Richard seemed to have turned the table, if momentarily, because Lex looked to be without words.</p><p>“I…” Luthor leaned forward, “Renegade, you may wish to think about this.”</p><p>“thought about it,” he said, “pretty easy. Loyalty is a big thing of mine, the league’s code is a part of that.” He crossed his arms, “they and I share the sentiment of finding beauty from destruction.”</p><p>Luthor’s mouth was agape and Dick smirked.</p><p>“but, be free to bring your promotion to Deathstroke,” Dick said with a smirk, “he could use something to fill his empty schedule.”</p><p>Richard leaned forward to end the call.</p><p>“anything else, Luthor?” Luthor was still stuttering, “no? okay then, I’ll see you next time.”</p><p>The call disconnected and Dick turned on his heel.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The motel was the standard example of last-minute cheap living, unfortunately.</p><p>Kaldur made sure his weapons were still concealed, out of an awkward force of habit, and turned to Renegade. He was standing on the sidewalk, eyes trained on the skies. No mask, no armour. His face against the pale blue afternoon sky and clouds seemed right, as opposed to the gears and steel of the sub. Mount Justice was in the distance, and Kaldur ached at how close he was. He hadn’t gotten this close in almost a year.</p><p>“are you coming?” Kaldur called over to his mission buddy.</p><p>Renegade didn’t move his gaze, a small smile played on his lips.</p><p>“my sister made me a promise,” he said, “she’s sending someone over.”</p><p>“this mission is strictly the two of us, no assassins.”</p><p>Renegade chuckled, “I never said the someone was an assassin.”</p><p>Kaldur frowned.</p><p>Renegade tensed and his head flicked around to settle his gaze on a different building, Kaldur followed, too late to see what he was watching. Renegade held an arm out and a bird settled on it. Kaldur thought he saw him grab something from the claws of the bird and tuck it away, but he must have been imagining it.</p><p>Kaldur stared at it.</p><p>“it’s…” he blinked, “an owl?”</p><p>“a spotted owl,” renegade said, scratching under the birds ear tufts, “her name’s Isabel.”</p><p>Kaldur looked between Richard and the bird. The two together looked… somehow right. It suddenly seemed like the past weeks Richard had been missing something without Kaldur noticing, and now that something was returned.</p><p>“you can’t bring that in the motel.”</p><p>“I don’t intend to,” Richard said, “she’ll stay on guard, no one’s sneaking up on us with her around.”</p><p>“you put that much trust in a bird?”</p><p>Richard levelled an unamused stare on Kaldur.</p><p>“It is a necessary question to ask.”</p><p>“this is my mission partner,” Richard said, “I trust her with my life.”</p><p>“oh, so you’re insane?”</p><p>Richard laughed, knuckle trailing along the chest feathers of the owl.</p><p>“she’s proven herself to me. You don’t wanna trust her, then don’t.”</p><p>Kaldur couldn’t fight the slight smile that broke through. Richard whistled lowly then nodded towards a tree by the window of the motel room they’d booked. Isabel fluttered off and landed in the branches, cooed, hopped along the branch, cooed again and then glided to the next tree, repeated the process, then rose into the sky in circles around the building.</p><p>Richard walked by Kaldur, striding up to the room, a rusting bronze number nailed to the front. He slipped the key he’d got from the front desk into the lock and the door opened with a slight creak. Kaldur followed him in, taking in the furniture as the lights flickered into existence.</p><p>There was one window, next to the door. The room was only about 12 foot square, and a small part was cut out for an ensuite- just a sink, toilet and shower crammed side by side- in the far left corner. In the negative space of the cut out was a bench, a kettle and microwave on top with three mugs, a cup of sugar sachets and tea bags. A bar fridge underneath the bench and a small TV hung above. A cabinet was against the far wall, likely with extra blankets, pillows, other things. A chair was pushed into the corner of the right wall, under the window next to the door. A wooden bedside table was slowly crumbling, a lamp on top.</p><p>Richard stared at the queen-size bed.</p><p><em>The </em>bed. Bed <em>singular.</em></p><p>“I’ll take the floor,” Richard volunteered, before Kaldur had quite registered it.</p><p>Kaldur looked between Richard, the bed and the window.</p><p>“We’ll take watch schedules,” Kaldur offered, “one sleeps, one takes the chair.”</p><p>Richard turned to Kaldur with a raised eyebrow, shrugged, closed the door.</p><p>“how long will it take you to do the…” Kaldur searched for the words as Richard pulled out his computer from his bag and settled it on the bench, “tech stuff?”</p><p>“couple of minutes, tops. After that it’ll only need checks every couple of hours to make sure it’s running smooth. I’ll set an alarm in case someone tries to boot me.”</p><p>Kaldur nodded, “I think we saw enough on the way here, traffic seems low.”</p><p>“mmm,” Richard leaned over the bench as he got to work setting things up, “It’ll still be worth heading out every now and then on a stroll to make sure of that, but it seems there aren’t too many around.”</p><p>“and you’re sure our information is reliable, that the leaguers are absent?”</p><p>“yes,” Richard nodded, “completely.”</p><p>Kaldur nodded and sat on the bed. He could feel the springs, creaking beneath him, and the mattress was stiff, but he wasn’t there for comfort.</p><p>“I don’t see the point in this,” Richard said, Kaldur could hear the frown in his voice, “it won’t matter too much when we storm the mountain-“</p><p>“I’d prefer to be aware of what we’re up against, especially seeing as we can’t take a large team.” Kaldur answered easily, “moreover, if Superboy is around he will pose a significant threat.”</p><p>“he may be unavoidable, he lives in the mountain.”</p><p>Kaldur turned a narrow-eyed stare on Richard’s back, “how do you know that?”</p><p>Richard shrugged, Kaldur had to be imagining the tension in his shoulders, “just figured. He’s a clone and all, no family to bunk in with, unless Superman warmed up to him.”</p><p>“how did-“</p><p>“focusing, talk later,” Richard said, fingers starting to fly across the keyboard.</p><p>Kaldur allowed himself the bemused eye roll and raised eyebrow- only because Richard had his back turned- and put his attention on the window. Isabel was sitting on the branch again, fluffing up her chest feathers. She spotted Kaldur watching her and stared.</p><p>No, she wasn’t staring. She was a bird, her brain was the size of a walnut. she wasn’t intelligent enough to register Kaldur’s acknowledgement.</p><p>Nevertheless, her eyes were filled with intelligence that Kaldur excused as not real. Owls were only smart regal birds in myths, in real life they were just as derp-y and simple as any other animal.</p><p>Isabel cocked her head. Kaldur glared at her.</p><p>He stood and paced the room. When he looked back at the window Isabel had disappeared.</p><p>Richard groaned, leaned back from his computer and ran his hand through his hair, “come on,” he muttered under his breath.</p><p>“what?”</p><p>“not you,” he grumbled, “stupid server has been updated, I made a mistake cause I thought it would be the same as-“ he sighed in annoyance, “never mind, it’ll just take me a couple more seconds, I’ve got this.”</p><p>“what are you doing?”</p><p>“hacking the JLA’s system, duh,” he huffed, “but some bright spark has gone and updated it. about time, but still.”</p><p>“you’ve done it before?”</p><p>“plenty of times.” Kaldur could hear a smirk in his voice as he leaned over to look at the screen. Several windows were open with lines of code or pieces of software, Kaldur had no idea what he was looking at, “I learned how to hack by getting through this system.”</p><p>Kaldur frowned at him, “interesting.”</p><p>Richard shrugged, “whoever did this is <em>good</em>.”</p><p>“can you still get through?”</p><p>Richard chuckled, “oh, you bet, it’ll just take longer. But whoever tied these knots has never gone up against my software.”</p><p>“how much longer are we talking?”</p><p>“well, usually I’d have finished about ten minutes ago, now, on the other hand,” Richard smirked, “it took me this much longer.”</p><p>Kaldur didn’t know what the sign was that he’d succeeded. There were still windows of code and things he didn’t understand, but Richard’s tone suggested success.</p><p>“now what do you do?”</p><p>“download the necessary files and get through the cameras. Nothing too hard. Then we just leave it running to get all our information about who’s coming and going through the mountain.”</p><p>Kaldur nodded, “I’ll take first watch.”</p><p>Richard stood from the computer, levelling his gaze on Kaldur, “you’re sure?”</p><p>“yes, you didn’t sleep last night.”</p><p>“what part of insomniac don’t you understand?” Richard snorted.</p><p>Kaldur sat himself in the chair by the window, keeping his gaze from Richard’s face. Eventually, the man sighed and sat on the bed, reclining and lying down, getting comfortable. He either fell asleep or had merely perfected the appearance in his many nights attempting to reach it.</p><p>Kaldur watched the light leech from the room. The afternoon sun waned, pulled closer to the horizon incessantly by the inevitable turn of the earth. Kaldur liked to imagine it the way the old stories depicted it, a sun god hurtling through the skies in a chariot, so far up above the sea. Only the faintest bit of Helios’ power managed to get its grips in Atlantis, but even that small bit was beautiful. Magic had an incandescent glow but the sun itself was warm and everlasting. Magic could die out, Atlantis could crumble, the sea could take the earth or boil to nothing but salted air but the sun would always remain.</p><p>And yet it was dragged from the sky, the blue turned orange and pink and white, the clouds changed to illuminated puffs. The sun had been shackled down and pulled away, clawing and gripping at the land before it, scrabbling for purchase, reaching for hope, but all it got was the slowly darkening land it once illuminated, growing ever colder as it was pulled further away. The last rays of warmth were blood-soaked and red, spewing from the wound of the sun’s capture, pouring out as a last and final reminder of the glory that was once the mid-day sun. and it will do it all again tomorrow, shoved back into the sky that it once loved, and yes it will be happy to be back until it remembers what awaits it in the end. An endless cycle. A grandiose and bright and sparkling entrance to the world, gold-tinted and blinded to the future. A dark and gaping abyss that it will be wrenched into, crying and screaming.</p><p>Eventually the only orange light left in the sky was that of the street lights, a band of it breaking through the blinds and cascading over Kaldur’s face, a golden mask over his eyes. A mockery of what once hung in the air.</p><p>Kaldur stood and walked into the bathroom, he sat on the floor of the shower. Breathing deep.</p><p>He hadn’t turned the light on when he’d closed the door and was now stuck in the swathed cloak of darkness that was left. It was cold. He was alone.</p><p>It had been cold for a while now. He’d been cold for a while now.</p><p>He leant his head against the wall behind him, focusing on his breathing. Ever since he’d started this fool’s mission he’d been prone to moments like these. Once everything was too quiet for too long the mind had a tendency to create noise where there was none. The shrill ring of nothing had become the warning bell for his darkest thoughts.</p><p>Kaldur breathed out and reached for his magic. His tattoos glowed, warm against his skin, and he let the light fill the room. Watching it with sad eyes. He barely did magic for non-combat reasons anymore, he wondered if he still knew how.</p><p>He rubbed a hand down his face, fingers trailing against his cheeks. He whispered words into the air and blew a warm breath into his palm, it lit up in blue, dancing lights. The twirling glow threaded itself between his fingers and he watched it with a watery gaze.</p><p>He missed Atlantis. He missed his home. He missed his friends.</p><p>He missed his life.</p><p>Would his king even welcome him back when this was over? All he had done in the past year… it was treason. He was a spy, a double agent, sure, but it was <em>treason </em>against his king. The king he’d sworn his loyalty to. The king who’d stared at him at Malina island with pain and heartache, begging Kaldur to blame him and not the rest of the league. To blame him and only him. his king had truly thought that all of Kaldur’s suffering had been his fault.</p><p>Had he gone home to Atlantis, to his wife and child, and told them of his supposed mistake? Had he cried and screamed and wished he could run to Kaldur and beg him back? had he prayed to the gods for an answer? Kaldur did not know, he guessed he likely never would. He expected that when this was over he and his king would never be the same again.</p><p>And his team, his friends, his own family of his making, not the one that was pushed onto him by fate and blood alone. What would they think? Would they take him back or turn their backs?</p><p>Kaldur would be worried if not for the fact that he knew he deserved only to be scorned. It was not his king’s fault, not Artemis’ fault or Wally’s or Batgirl’s. this was all on him.</p><p>As he let go of the magic he sighed, dropping his hand. The glow removed itself from the room and left him in the crushing dark.</p><p>He stood, took a breath, composed himself and opened the door. He sat in the chair by the window again.</p><p>The computer beeped, barely audible, but Richard sat from the bed without hindrance and walked over.</p><p>“that’s my alarm, three hours,” he explained, “I’ll check the computer and we’ll switch.”</p><p>Kaldur nodded mutely, looking at the street light outside.</p><p>“you okay?”</p><p>Kaldur blinked and looked at Richard.</p><p>“fine.”</p><p>“no, you’re not.”</p><p>“are you questioning me?”</p><p>Kaldur wanted Richard to yell or glare or lose some form of his endless composure. The man was ridiculously annoying in his ability to school his features to fit the situation and rise to any emotion he needed.</p><p>He wanted Richard to snap at him, all he got was an empty stare that held some vague impression of… pity? No.</p><p>Worry.</p><p>Why was it that Richard could only ever be cold when Kaldur didn’t want him to be. Why was he always kind when Kaldur needed him to be an enemy. Richard was an enigma, and Artemis’ words about him were always dancing in the front of Kaldur’s mind.</p><p>“I’m pointing out a lie,” he said at last, “what’s wrong?”</p><p>“I’m fine.”</p><p>“I used to say that a lot,” Richard said, “it was like my catchphrase, ‘I’m fine’.” He chuckled, “god, that was always such an easy lie. Two syllables, hard to stuff up, and so blankly nothing. ‘I’m fine’, can mean anything really.”</p><p>Kaldur looked at him with the blankest expression he could muster. He fell short, once more. Consistently he found he could not express what he wanted to with Richard around. his face could not lie. His eyes were still filled with the self-pity he’d drenched himself in not long ago. Why was it so hard to lie to this man he did not know- should not know?</p><p>And yet every time he looked at Richard’s face it became that much more familiar, it became that much more… right in a sense. As if Kaldur was always supposed to be side by side with this man.</p><p>“tell me what’s wrong.”</p><p>“why?” Kaldur managed a scowl, that was good, that was him getting the acting back, he could do this, “you misunderstand your position.”</p><p>“I understand it perfectly.”</p><p>“you are not my friend.”</p><p>“no,” Richard said, with surety. But Kaldur could hear a small piece of sadness and dejection in there. Richard seemed to realise it, too, because for a moment he looked angry at himself, “no, I’m not.”</p><p>For a moment Kaldur thought he heard the silent, non-existent utterance of <em>‘anymore’</em>, but it was wind moving, furniture creaking, his mind making up noises again. Artemis’ teasing sprung back into mind. The way she’d suggested everything without saying anything. She was too observant, she could see what Kaldur was feeling before he himself could determine what it was. He only wished she’d have told him, it would make his self-governed journey to figure it out that much easier.</p><p>“you know what I am, though? I’m a brother,” he allowed the smallest of smiles that disappeared as soon as it appeared, “I’ve got a sister whom I regularly find sitting on the bathroom floor with a needle in her arm and a monster in her mind. My brother-“</p><p>He faltered, changed his wording.</p><p>“he’s angry, all the time, he can’t help it. no one treats him like anything but a bomb about to go off. Thalia’s kid has become my little brother, he’s only five and already finds things difficult. They’re people I care for and look after, they need me there. I’ve got my own shit, Damian is probably the most emotionally stable person there, but he can’t do anything, it’s up to me.”</p><p>He walked up to Kaldur, slumped in the chair, he kneeled down to stare him in the eyes. Kaldur remembered the bright brilliant golden eyes that had stared at him, ringed with green, when he’d lost control in a sparring match. He preferred the blue, and the shadows with the slight bit of orange illuminating the air seemed to give them a depth. Yet, imagining those terrifying irises didn’t seem entirely horrific anymore. Kaldur wasn’t sure what he thought of them.</p><p>For a moment he expected some kind of heartfelt pep talk or a supportive word. That’s not what he got.</p><p>“but I’m fucking stuck <em>here,</em> with <em>you</em>, instead of alongside people who need me there, where I’d rather be,” he said, a scowl trying to break out, “so, if you’re gonna start moping and getting distracted, tell me now so I don’t let you get yourself killed, cause it’s my neck on the line, too, asshat, I don’t have time for your stifled emotional maturity.”</p><p>Kaldur blinked. That had not been what he was expecting.</p><p>“so, get over yourself or air your grievances, pick one, move on, sound good?”</p><p>Kaldur opened his mouth to speak but couldn’t decide on any words to use. Richard raised his eyebrows to emphasise his point as the silence stretched.</p><p>“okay.”</p><p>He nodded and stood straight, then walked to his computer.</p><p>“I was thinking of Atlantis.”</p><p>Richard went still. He was leaned over his computer and thanks to the fact that he’d taken off his jacket his shoulder blades and muscles were pronounced through his shirt. Kaldur could picture his hair falling in front of his eyes.</p><p>“were you now?”</p><p>Kaldur nodded, well aware that Richard couldn’t see it.</p><p>“It’s beautiful,” he said, voice hollow.</p><p>“I can imagine.”</p><p>Kaldur thought that maybe he’d laugh if the conversation was under different circumstance. For now he just huffed a breath through his nose with a smile.</p><p>“you can’t,” he said.</p><p>Richard shrugged, “maybe not, but I’ll never get a chance to see it.”</p><p>Kaldur blinked, staring at Richard leaned over his computer. His fingers weren’t moving across the keyboard, his hands were still against the desk. It was possible he was merely staring at something on the screen, but Kaldur could see the tension in his shoulders. He didn’t want to look at Kaldur for some reason. Perhaps Kaldur was reminding him too much of the family he missed.</p><p>“You could,” Kaldur said.</p><p>Richard’s head tilted, then focused back on the screen. He started moving the mouse and typing things, likely opening and closing tabs absentmindedly.</p><p>“sure.”</p><p>“magic can allow anyone into Atlantis.”</p><p>“uh-huh.”</p><p>He didn’t seem overly interested, like he didn’t have a personal want to see Atlantis. The reaction was based more in the fact that Kaldur was offering the visit.</p><p>Kaldur looked out the window, trying to find Isabel. He thought that maybe he caught a shadow in the sky, but otherwise he found nothing.</p><p>“are you gonna catch some sleep?”</p><p>Kaldur blinked, zoned back in.</p><p>“of course.”</p><p>He stood and lay down on the bed, hoping that he’d gain some form of sleep. The nothingness of unconsciousness was something he could really do with.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Dick stared at the box in his hand. He’d asked Alex to send it along with Isabel. He told her not to look at what was inside, just where it was. He wouldn’t be surprised if she’d opened it anyway.</p><p>He didn’t know why he wanted to see it. heck, he didn’t know why he’d <em>kept it </em>for so many years.</p><p>He opened it to make sure it was still there. it was. A small little oval of sunstone on a silver chain.</p><p>Isabel swooped onto the windowsill and fluttered her wings about, Dick startled. How had he lapsed in his attention? He had to stay focused. He slid the box back in his jacket and opened the glass to let Isabel in.</p><p>Kaldur must have barely been asleep because he woke almost immediately, the slide of the window as good an alarm as any.</p><p>Isabel sat on the bed, pacing along and staring.</p><p>“what’s going on?” Kaldur said as he stood.</p><p>“she’s agitated,” Dick said.</p><p>“someone’s coming?” Kaldur reached for his water bearers, sitting on the bedside table, “can you see anyone out the window?”</p><p>Dick looked between Isabel and the street outside. He already had all his gear on him, seeing as he was on watch, so instead he checked the computer was fine and turned to Kaldur, glancing between him and Isabel.</p><p>“no, I don’t think we’re in danger.”</p><p>Kaldur frowned.</p><p>“Something’s wrong, though, she’s found something we need to see.”</p><p>Kaldur followed Dick out of the door, they locked it behind them and Isabel flung herself into the sky, rocketing through the air as if there were no time to waste. Dick chased after her, Kaldur followed, wondering exactly when he’d decided to trust a friggin’ bird.</p><p>They turned down a few streets, wandering into the back alley behind a tall building. A party raved on the top floor, Dick could hear it from the ground. He and Kaldur hid down a ways from the back door of the building, peeking from behind the walls of another structure. There were construction scaffolds set up to their right and fire escapes, as well as several architectural features that would make the walls easy to scale. The street lights only gave a small bit of lighting to the location, otherwise it was just the half-moon that illuminated the scene. A couple of cars were parked in the small space between all the buildings, clearly belonging to the business that was holding the party.</p><p>Dick took it all in quickly, eyes landing on the scuffle occurring in the area behind the building, which he could recognise as the Whitchester club. Isabel sat atop the back door, on a small outcropping, and stared at the soon-to-be fight.</p><p>“what’s going on?” Kaldur asked, voice low.</p><p>“mugging?” Dick said, eyes narrowing as he continued to watch. A group of five people were backing against the club’s wall, clutching bags and attempting to negotiate with a small group of armed people who were leering at them. “no, those are mobsters, Black mask’s men. And…”</p><p>He trailed, trying to get a look at the faces of the people being attacked. Why would black mask’s goons be going after some Randoms out the back of a club?</p><p>“this isn’t our business, we have a mission,” Kaldur said, “let’s get back.”</p><p>Dick didn’t turn away, instead he made notes of the weapons he could see. Four guns, all pistols. One man wielded a knife and he saw one of the gunmen had another peeking out from under his pants cuff.</p><p>“Renegade,” Kaldur hissed, tugging at the elbow of his jacket, “Let’s go, that’s an order.”</p><p>Dick raised an eyebrow, not looking back at Kaldur, “chill, boss, it’s not like this’ll take long.”</p><p>“what?”</p><p>“you come up behind them while I sneak around, the buildings will be easy to climb, I can come round to the victims. You distract and try to get some info, then we take them down, quick. Confiscate their weapons, with magic, I’m expecting that’s something you can do?”</p><p>“yes,” Kaldur said before he could stop himself, then corrected, “Renegade, we need to go.”</p><p>“you take as many weapons as you can, I’ll get the rest, clear?”</p><p>Kaldur blinked. What the hell was Richard doing? Helping these random people could jeopardize their mission.</p><p>“Renegade-“</p><p>Dick wasn’t listening, he’d turned back to the confrontation at the sound of one of the people yelping. One of black mask’s men had grabbed their bag and wrenched it away, tripping them up and letting them fall to the floor.</p><p>“I recognise them,” Dick said, finally managing to discern the features, “these are those rich kids, from famous millionaire families, that made the case two months ago against their parents.”</p><p>“what?”</p><p>“their families were working with mobs and they ratted them out,” Dick said, pretending the only reason he recognised them was because he saw it on the news. In actuality, he had gone to school with these people. He’d sat next to one in his advanced science class, “Black Mask must have been the gang involved, this is their revenge.”</p><p>He turned to Kaldur, “decision, now, my plan or do you have a better one?”</p><p>Kaldur fumbled for words, trying to think of how to keep his cover, eventually he settled for, “yours’ll work.”</p><p>Dick nodded then turned to the wall and scaled it, quickly disappearing in the shadows. He watched as Kaldur crept closer to the corner to get a look at the slowly building confrontation. Dick made his way higher up so the mobsters wouldn’t see him, then jumped to the scaffolding nearby and used it to come round to face the fight from a new angle, creeping up behind the victims.</p><p>Kaldur stepped out just as one of the mobsters grew tired of the conversation, leaving behind their attempts at persuading their targets into an easy surrender and instead brandishing their gun much more dramatically.</p><p>“hey!” Kaldur called out, drawing attention to him, “put the guns down, leave them alone.”</p><p>This, of course, only caused the mobsters to begin laughing.</p><p>Dick caught Kaldur’s eyeroll as he discreetly pulled out his water bearers.</p><p>“what are you gonna do, punk?” one of the men spat, stepping forward, “you wanna tussle? Wanna try for some good ol’ fisticuffs?”</p><p>The mobsters laughed as their friend grinned and hopped between his feet with his fists raised, like a fighter warming himself up.</p><p>“aw, he’s playing hero, adorable,” one called out.</p><p>“look at that, little kiddies, your knight in shining armour is here,” one said, and latched on to an arm, pulling the unfortunate person connected to it into a sloppy headlock, letting his gun sit comfortably against the temple of the blonde’s head.</p><p>“run along, little wannabe, before you get hurt to,” one said, voice a conniving hiss, “we ain’t being paid for your head.”</p><p>“then I’ll make it worth your time,” Kaldur said, and his tattoos glowed under his jacket as he manipulated the water of the street. It rose up behind him in small droplets like a beaded wave. Each turned into long slices of water, needles of liquid sharpening to a deadly point.</p><p>The mobsters jaws went slack. The one holding the blonde accidentally allowed his catch to squirm free as he stared.</p><p>“uh, okay, dude, we don’t want no trouble, we ain’t paid enough to deal with freaks.”</p><p>Dick could see Kaldur’s grin.</p><p>“too bad.”</p><p>As the wave of water collapsed downwards towards the mobsters Dick jumped and landed on one of their shoulders. The guy whom he’d noticed to most likely be the leader in all the conversation. Dick quickly landed a solid hit to his head as he went down, making sure he was out of the picture, but they’d still be able to grab him to interrogate him afterwards if they wanted to.</p><p>The rest of the mobsters ran, but soon found their weapons taken from them as their hands were attacked with needles of ice.</p><p>“fuck this!” one shrieked and bolted.</p><p>The blonde and the rest of his friends backed up against the wall. One tried the back door but it wouldn’t budge.</p><p>“no, fuck you!” a mobster yelled as their comrades ran away. He grabbed his knife from under his pant leg and lurched for Kaldur, “and fuck you!”</p><p>Dick caught them midway through the hit and knocked them out with three quick moves. Kaldur took on another at the same time.</p><p>“retreat!”</p><p>Dick turned to see the rest of the mobsters run. All but one, who used the chance to grab one of their targets, jamming a knife under their neck as they held them and backed away.</p><p>“not another step!” the mobster warned.</p><p>“run,” Kaldur ordered the remaining would-be victims, “now.”</p><p>The mobster was still dragging the body of his quarry away, tears beginning to drop down their cheeks.</p><p>“but Jimmy-“</p><p>“I’ll handle it, go!” Dick ordered. Kaldur’s head snapped to him, but before he could give an order Dick had already set himself into motion.</p><p>He disappeared into the shadows, giving a shrill whistle. Isabel swooped the mobster, who was still backing away. He shrieked and his back hit the scaffolding. He let go of Jimmy, the boy tried to run, but instead was grabbed by the hair. The man jumped up the scaffolding and dragged Jimmy with him.</p><p>Kaldur watched, thinking about what he should do in this situation. This was straying too far into heroics for him to be comfortable with his cover. However, Richard was the one who’d instigated it all…</p><p>But what if it was a test?</p><p>Nevertheless, Dick wasn’t thinking about it. he followed silently as the mobster kept his eyes on Kaldur and his gun on Jimmy. He slowly climbed up to the top of the scaffolding.</p><p>The gunman hadn’t realised his mistake.</p><p>“get in there!” he ordered, elbowing a window and breaking the glass. He scowled and pushed Jimmy towards it then re-aimed his gun on the trembling boy, “go! Black Mask doesn’t take failure!”</p><p>As Jimmy stared desperately at the window and the mobster and the drop, Dick slid a throwing knife from is jacket. He let it fly, it collided with the mobster’s hand and the gun clattered to the floor as blood began to spray from his fingers.</p><p>Dick ran from the shadows, throwing another knife that embedded itself in the mobster’s thigh. Isabel swooped and the man ducked this time, but he winced right into Dick’s clutches. Three hits and the mobster was down-</p><p>But he grabbed at Jimmy once more, attempting to use him as a human shield. No matter, Dick batted him away and landed a solid punch to the mobster’s jaw, but-</p><p>Jimmy went tumbling, right over the edge of the scaffolding.</p><p>Dick didn’t think, he just jumped. And he was falling, falling, falling…</p><p>And his hand grabbed Jimmy’s ankle, the other caught the pole of the scaffolding and he twisted to swing Jimmy safely onto the steel platform, only a couple levels below where they had been before.</p><p>The mobster would have landed with a thump on the ground, having lost balance and fallen himself, but Kaldur caught him with a pool of water, then quickly knocked him out.</p><p>“you good?” Dick asked, helping Jimmy stand.</p><p>“uh…” he fumbled over words, “no.”</p><p>“good,” Dick smiled as he patted Jimmy’s chest, “means you’ve still got your wits. You need a hand getting down?”</p><p>“yes please.”</p><p>Kaldur met them at the base of the scaffolding.</p><p>“your friends ran down that way, I told them to call the police.”</p><p>“thanks,” Jimmy nodded, looking between the both of them, “are you guys heroes?”</p><p>“no,” they both answered, with completely different tones.</p><p>“well, thank you anyway.”</p><p>Dick gave him a smile and pat on the shoulder, “go find you buddies.”</p><p>Jimmy nodded, then frowned as he looked closer at Dick’s unmasked face, “do I know you?”</p><p>Dick frowned, trying to keep up the act, “nope.”</p><p>“your face is familiar… maybe we knew each other in school?”</p><p>“definitely not, I just have one of those faces, why don’t you head off?” Dick said quickly, then pushed him lightly in the direction his friends had gone, “see ya’!”</p><p>Dick turned and started walking away without pause, not allowing Jimmy to strike up further conversation. Kaldur faltered, glancing between the knocked out mobsters and Dick’s retreating form.</p><p>“are we going to further this?”</p><p>“hm? No.” Dick looked over his shoulder, “we have a mission, remember?”</p><p> </p><p> </p><h2>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932411" name="_Toc51932411"></a>A Bridge</strong>
</h2><p> </p><p>The two trekked back to the motel room without any fanfare. Isabel returned to her scouting and Dick to his computer. Kaldur stood in the middle of the room, staring at the ground with a frown.</p><p>Dick paid no heed, instead making sure nothing had gone awry tech-wise while they were absent. Everything was fine, a quick look at the cameras revealed dim rooms inside the mountain, no one was about, Wolf was sleeping on Superboy’s lap on the living room couch. Conner must have fallen asleep watching static, someone likely having come and turned off the tv but left the hero and his dog to rest. Dick felt a pang at the sight.</p><p>“why did you do that?”</p><p>Dick blinked and turned to face Kaldur, who was staring at him with a confused frown.</p><p>“what do you mean?”</p><p>“you saved those people, why?”</p><p>“there was no reason not to,” Dick said with a shrug, then turned back to his computer.</p><p>“I didn’t ask for the reasons not to, I asked for the reasons why,” Kaldur said, “what did you gain? What made you want to go out of your way to help some random millionaire kids?”</p><p>Dick looked over his shoulder at Kaldur, realising that this wasn’t going to be a quick conversation. He turned and leant against the bench, crossing his arms.</p><p>“I didn’t gain anything, I didn’t lose anything. It wasn’t out of my way because the mobsters were easy targets, it took very little effort. I did it cause…” he shrugged, “why do I need a reason?”</p><p>Kaldur took a step forward, voice going low, “that doesn’t sound like something an assassin would say.”</p><p>Dick smirked and pointed to his face, “no mask, see? I’m not Renegade, I’m Richard-“ he snapped his mouth closed, not having realised how he was going to finish that sentence before the second last word was out. Kaldur noticed the strange tone and the clear sign there was supposed to be more. He let it slide.</p><p>“you’re always an assassin, you don’t need the fancy gear,” Kaldur said.</p><p>Dick let his expression drop and with it so did his stomach, “I’d thought you’d probably understand.”</p><p>“I don’t.”</p><p>“<em>don’t lie to me,</em>” Dick said, a glare breaking out.</p><p>“<em>what?</em>”</p><p>Dick stepped forward, he and Kaldur were barely a handsbreadth apart as Dick stared into his eyes.</p><p>“you don’t fool me, Kaldur, you never have.”</p><p>Kaldur grit his teeth, “why don’t you take that to Ra’s Al Ghul? Or Savage? Or my father?”</p><p>As Dick remained silent Kaldur forged on.</p><p>“exactly, you don’t know anything. you have no proof. Just a feeling.”</p><p>“that’s enough for me,” Dick said, “and you’re not denying it.”</p><p>Kaldur tensed.</p><p>“so it was a test, then?” Kaldur asked, “to see what I’d do, given the chance to fall back on my old days as a hero?”</p><p>“No,” Dick said, scowling, “it wasn’t anything. I stepped in because-“</p><p>“because it was the right thing to do?” Kaldur said with a raised eyebrow. His tone was somewhere between mocking and dry, as if he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to be being sarcastic or attempting to persuade.</p><p>“I- <em>no,</em>” Dick said, “look, whatever, it was a split second decision. There was no consequences, no weight. Just a couple people about to be hurt. So yes, I stepped in, don’t start suggesting-“</p><p>“it was just a meaningless heroic moment when you cared about your fellow man-“</p><p>“don’t you <em>dare</em>,” Dick hissed, “don’t you <em>dare</em> talk like you know me, you don’t know anything about who I do or don’t <em>care</em> about.”</p><p>“you saved people when it meant nothing, why can’t you when it means something?”</p><p>Dick tensed, hands turning to fists, “you think it means anything?” the tension turned to bubbled laughter, his shoulders jerked as he looked away, “god, you are <em>naïve</em>.”</p><p>“what are talking about?”</p><p>“you save the city because it <em>means </em>something, huh? Then you do it again, and again and again,” Dick smiled as he waved his hands about dramatically, “and no matter how much you think it <em>matters</em>, you never <em>finish the fucking job.</em>”</p><p>“why, because we don’t kill? Because we don’t think ourselves so powerful to have a right to choose who lives and dies?”</p><p>Dick stabbed a finger in Kaldur’s face, “do I look like I think I’m some powerful dick with a stick up my ass? I kill because if I don’t those people will go off and ruin thousands of lives, not just by ending them.”</p><p>“you kill because Ra’s tells you to.”</p><p>“you don’t know anything about why the league kills the people we do, you don’t know anything about how it works.” Oh shit, his throat was hurting. The frustration was starting to eb at his composure.</p><p>“then tell me, what gives Ra’s the right to pick and choose?”</p><p>“he has people to protect.” Why was he reacting so dramatically? Normally he could remain composed in a conversation like this.</p><p>“so do we, we manage it without bringing down the wrath of a well-trained sharpened blade.”</p><p>“if you can’t understand it, I can’t explain it.”</p><p>“that’s bullshit,” Kaldur said.</p><p>Dick blinked, staring at him for a moment. Was that the first time he’d heard Kaldur curse?</p><p>“no assassin saves people just because there was no reason not to. What stops you from making a difference by putting people in jail instead of killing them?”</p><p>“jail doesn’t keep anyone, have you seen Arkham?” Dick forced a laugh, but it cut short rather quickly, “it’s a joke! Not even Batman can keep Gotham safe, no matter what you do it’s all for nothing! They break out, they keep killing.”</p><p>“that’s why Belle Reve exists.”</p><p>“oh yeah, Waller’s masterpiece. Not even superman can burst through those walls, god she’s so prideful,” Dick scowled, “those ice villains would have broken out if you hadn’t intervened, you know? Not even your perfect prison was absent of issues.”</p><p>“how did you know about that?” Kaldur startled.</p><p>“no computer’s safe from me remember?” Dick said, bitterly, because he had to. He had to keep up the act, but even still he couldn’t keep the tone out of his voice, “but hey, maybe I’ll join you and spend all my time saving people who turn on me with smear campaigns as soon as something doesn’t go perfectly right.”</p><p>“if all you care about is the thanks, then you don’t know why we do it.”</p><p>“go fuck yourself, <em>Aqualad</em>,” Dick scowled, “if I wanted to be a fucking hero, I would be. It’s just not worth my effort.”</p><p>Kaldur scowled, “you think that well of yourself?”</p><p>Dick snorted, “I’m confident in my abilities, I learnt from the best,” his small smile turned sad, “I don’t need anyone.”</p><p>Kaldur frowned, leaning forward with a raised eyebrow, “absolutely no one?”</p><p>“no,” Dick scowled, “I tried that, years ago, letting people help me, doesn’t work,” he shoved his hands in his pockets, “everyone leaves eventually, fish boy, it’s a fact of life.”</p><p>Kaldur crossed his arms, “what about your sister?”</p><p>Dick blinked, “what?”</p><p>“is your sister going to leave you? You said you’d prefer to be back with the league of assassins because your sister needs you, and your brother needs you, and Damian needs you.”</p><p>Dick cursed himself for letting himself give so much away. This conversation had gone too far.</p><p>“are they going to turn around one day and leave you in the dust? Why bother helping them if there’s no reason to?”</p><p>Dick grit his teeth, “fuck off.”</p><p>“no, answer the question.”</p><p>Dick glared, “they’re my family, that’s all you need to know.”</p><p>“your family should be helping you. What goes around comes around,” Kaldur said, “if they cared they’d choose you for a change instead of letting you run yourself ragged for them.”</p><p>Dick stiffened, taking a deep breath that staggered slightly.</p><p>“If you can’t answer that, then I have only one question for you. And if you answer it I’ll leave it be.” Kaldur said, “is the only reason you’re with the league because you feel obligated to be with your family, to help them?”</p><p>Dick clamped his mouth shut. Kaldur watched him struggle with his words.</p><p>Dick breathed out between his teeth and shouldered past Kaldur. He ducked into the bathroom and slammed the door behind him, locking it before he leant against the door. It was dark, he hadn’t turned on the light, but he could see the faintest bit of details in the murky shadows of the mirror. His reflection was just the dark shape of a person’s torso and head, no detail, no individuality to it. just the shadow of a human figure.</p><p>“real mature,” he heard Kaldur say outside the door.</p><p>“fuck off!”</p><p>“can you think of any other insults, or is that your go-to?”</p><p>Dick held his head in his hands, hair running through his fingers as he stared at the shadows and the darkness.</p><p>His sister’s words rang through his mind.</p><p>
  <em>you need to stop doing things just cause you're worried about me.</em>
</p><p>That would take a lot of things out of his schedule. A lot. Most of them.</p><p>He’d left the heroes because he was tired of picking everyone and thing else over himself. He’d had no plans, no home, nothing but Isabel and a bag of crap. He’d found a family. He stayed because they were his <em>family.</em></p><p>Related by blood. Hadn’t Cobb also fit that description? The family excuse didn’t last long there.</p><p>Didn’t last long at all.</p><p>what was it he’d thought to himself when he had strode back into the Railway station, wanting to prove himself?</p><p>
  <em>It doesn’t matter who Cobb is, he was not a Talon.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The tunnel was the same, it started sloping exactly where he remembered. Fucking Matilda hadn’t been there to make him trip, so he was able to secure his line and abseil down. He switched on his torch, his old phone was still there, screen utterly destroyed.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“wow,” Dick toed it with a grin, “I haven’t had a phone since I was sixteen.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Isabel swooped down and landed on his shoulder. She helped guide him back to the room filled with coffins…</em>
</p><p>Dick snapped back to the present. This was no time for flashbacks, no time for going over everything he’d done wrong that night.</p><p>But what was the difference between Cobb and Ra’s?</p><p>Well, Ra’s wasn’t a psychotic corpse trying to indoctrinate him into a murder cult. Ra’s had practically become a grandfather figure.</p><p>
  <em>He’d made the same mistake as the first time he was there. he got spiteful and petty and he wanted to prove something. He wanted to prove he wasn’t made to be the stupid Gray son. What better way then destroying the court, razing it to the ground?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>His questioning got the best of him and he reopened the coffin he’d stuffed Cobb into. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>The body slumped out. Dead. As dead as could be. The electrum couldn’t work in the cold, Cobb was dead. Dick had killed his great grandfather. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>It didn’t matter. He wasn’t his family, he was himself. His blood didn’t dictate his future. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>He set the charges, lining them up as he had planned. Once they were set he took a seat at the computers, downloading everything he could. Then he headed to the aviary. With Isabel’s help he managed to herd all the birds out.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>After that it was simple: get out, press the button, ka-boom.</em>
</p><p>It hadn’t quite ended that way.</p><p>But the court was gone, he’d succeeded in that form. The reason he’d stayed with the league was because they were his family, specifically Alex but Thalia as well in a roundabout way.</p><p>Or was it because he wanted something to believe in? was it because he’d just thrown out all the morals he’d been taught and was grasping for the first option he was given? Was it because he wanted to stick it to Bruce? Or perhaps the need to feel like he was actually doing something with his life?</p><p>No he knew what it was.</p><p>It was compliance.</p><p>So what if he hadn’t given in to Cobb? He may not be a Talon but he was still an assassin. He’d thrown out everything he’d considered important and remade his entire belief system, the exact thing he’d told Cobb he wouldn’t do.</p><p>He told himself he was making the choice, but he wasn’t. he’d given up. Everyone was telling him he was made for being a merciless killer, he’d given up on fighting it. he’d resigned himself to it. it helped that he’d just stumbled across his long lost half-sister.</p><p>What had he become in his lack of care? In his numbness to his right to make a choice?</p><p>He’d become the one thing he said he wouldn’t when he’d left the team. He said he’d gone to find a better way to save people, he said he’d given up on the job where he was always forced to choose others over himself, he said he was going to make his own way.</p><p>How well had he pulled that off?</p><p>About as well as he’d pulled off his attempt at destroying the court.</p><p>
  <em>He should have known the nitrogen would run out. He should have known to be careful. But it had been fine before, he expected it to be fine again. It had not been.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He also should have known that Alex would have realised something was off and followed him. she had lost him and couldn’t catch up, but when the Talons started bursting out Isabel went and found her. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>That took time, though. Time enough for the talons to swarm. Dick had the same healing as them, but his was definitively slower. And as well trained as he was, one small mistake lead to more. He couldn’t keep up against all of them. Especially when the injuries kept coming. The more he got the slower they healed, his body was struggling to keep up.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The Talons were fine. He could land a hit that broke bone and they would stumble back, shake it off, jerk their shoulder back into the right position and be perfectly fine.</em>
</p><p>Alex had called Thalia as Isabel guided her, but she still arrived alone. She’d found his bag, full of weapons, and immediately reached for the automatic rifle. If Dick remembered correctly he’d been hit with one of the bullets she’d sent spraying at the Talons. After that it was a bit of a blur. He managed to grit his teeth and keep fighting till Thalia, Slade and Ra’s had shown up with a small group of assassins, having used a boom tube to get there quickly.</p><p>
  <em>Dick had blacked out as soon as the explosion went off, Slade caught him. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>They rushed back to Nanda Parbat, got him in the med bay with a breathing mask on. The doctors took one look and told Ra’s to get him in the Lazarus pit.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“we can’t.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Dick was only just conscious, the bare minimum, but even he was expecting Alex to say it. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“even with his healing factor, he won’t be able to heal from this. He’s spread thin. If it weren’t for the advanced healing he’d probably have been dead hours ago.”</em>
</p><p>Dick could hear it, could still remember the panic. He did not want to go in there. he’d seen how it affected Alex, he had watched how it wrecked her on some nights.</p><p>But was he so scared of the pits that he could die?</p><p>
  <em>Eventually Alex gave in, on one condition: she went in with him.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Not to stay in, that would probably drive her insane. But she’d be lowering him in. she’d be taking him out.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Dick had winced as she held him. she could barely take the full weight. He was younger than her but he wasn’t sixteen anymore. She’d given him a look as she lowered him in, a terrified look. But it had turned determined. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Dick was quite sure Alex thought he couldn’t hear. He did, just barely. He’d been trying to make out the words for years now, trying to remember what she’d said. Now it was starting to come back.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“this is gonna hurt, Dick,” she had said, “I know it’s gonna hurt, but it’ll make you better.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>As she lowered him in his ankles hit the water, he shivered, grit his teeth. As the liquid submerged around his shoulders she’d leaned in close.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I’ve got you, okay,” she had said, “I promise, I’ll always be here.”</em>
</p><p>Dick fished the phone out of his pocket. He’d bought a new one after that sorry attempt at a battle, there weren’t many contacts, but the most commonly texted one was the exact one he needed.</p><p>He was breathing heavily, he didn’t know when that started. He clumsily typed the letters.</p><p>
  <em>Alex if I ran away would you hate me?</em>
</p><p>He bit his lip as he deleted it.</p><p>
  <em>Hey, hypothetically-</em>
</p><p>He deleted it again.</p><p>
  <em>Alex-</em>
</p><p>Delete.</p><p>
  <em>Okay, so, if I left-</em>
</p><p>He groaned as he key smashed, deleted it all and tried once more.</p><p>
  <em>Alex what do I do when I’m questioning my entire life’s choices?</em>
</p><p>He clicked send. Then held down the text bubble, clicked delete permanently. He threw the phone at the wall.</p><p>As it shattered on the tiles he remembered that Kaldur was still outside the door. He slammed his head into it, screwing his eyes shut and fighting the sob threatening to come up.</p><p>The box in his coat pocket felt like it was burning him. the sunstone was a weight, pulling him down.</p><p>What was he supposed to do now? Go out there and ask for forgiveness?</p><p>He couldn’t. he couldn’t go running back to batman, to the league. He couldn’t go running back expecting the past six years to be forgiven and forgotten, as if they never happened.</p><p>God, what had he done?</p><p>What would his parents thi-</p><p>They’d be fine with it. that was the problem. Dick had to stop caring about what his parents would think, about what anyone would think. His father had been an assassin, his mother a master thief, and he was…</p><p>He was a guilt ridden child who was so scared of choosing his own path he’d gone with the one that had been pushed on him.</p><p>So what did he do now?</p><p>What was there <em>to </em>do? If he removed every influence of his family, his history, he was left with a healing factor, some damn good skills and the hope that he could make an effect on the world that wasn’t for nothing.</p><p>But what constituted nothing? He’d always thought his work as a hero didn’t matter much unless it was some big ‘save the city’ plot. He’d helped the average citizen of Gotham, but he was a teenager, he didn’t realise that that’s what being a hero was. It wasn’t about dramatically saving everyone from Joker or Penguin. It was selflessly giving aid when the only reason was because you could.</p><p>Dick grabbed the door handle and opened it, Kaldur was stood outside, waiting.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Kaldur was only slightly surprised by Richard’s reaction. He was expecting him to blow Kaldur off or do something to move the conversation topic, storming into the bathroom was just an extreme he hadn’t specifically foreseen.</p><p>It did make this hard, though. Because now Richard knew for sure that Kaldur was a traitor. The only way to keep his cover was to either turn Richard to his cause or dispose of him. Kaldur knew he shouldn’t take the chance and just knock him out, but something felt wrong about that. Especially when he clearly had a chance at turning Richard to the hero’s cause, and he’d be useful.</p><p>But…</p><p>Kaldur still knew those eyes. God damnit, he knew them. He knew who this person was. He wanted to persuade them, to bring them to the light, to save them. He wanted to. He needed to. He didn’t know why.</p><p>He sighed as Richard continued to be silent. Kaldur thought he heard something crash, maybe he’d hit something? There was a thump against the door, right under where Kaldur had rested his hand. He breathed, counting his breaths, as he waited for Richard to say something. His hand stayed against the door, if he let himself imagine he pictured Richard on the other side, his own hand mirroring Kaldur’s. maybe he’d watched too many romantic movies. If it wasn’t that image it was Richard’s head against the door, glaring at the ground. Kaldur wanted the door to be gone, to vanish, so he could grab on to Richard and pull him close. Tell him that the justice league wasn’t the assassins or the light. They could accept mistakes, could forgive.</p><p>The silence stretched, perhaps Richard would not be fulfilling any of those fantasies-</p><p>The door opened, Kaldur dropped his hand. Richard stood in the doorway, staring at nothing.</p><p>“what’s your plan?”</p><p>“what?”</p><p>He turned his gaze on Kaldur, “I suppose you’re ferrying information to the league, and that Tigress is actually Artemis with some magical glamour charm. What’s your plan? You can’t just stay undercover forever, there has to be an endgame.”</p><p>Kaldur blinked. Could he trust him? could he trust a man who’s name literally meant ‘to betray’?</p><p>Richard pursed his lips.</p><p>“the league of assassins is attempting to leave the light, without putting themselves in contempt. So many other issues have been occurring, I’ve heard the light wants to have a… meeting, with the reach.”</p><p>“a summit?”</p><p>“of a sort.”</p><p>Kaldur nodded, “we could use it as a chance to get proof.”</p><p>Richard nodded, “you’d need the security to be swayed.”</p><p>“I can make it so I’m put in charge of it.”</p><p>“and the light is looking for a new enforcer,” Richard said, “I can coerce Slade to do it, he can be in on it.”</p><p>“are you sure?”</p><p>“we all hate the reach, and by extension the light for bringing them here. Savage is going too far.”</p><p>“you trust Deathstroke?”</p><p>“with my life.”</p><p>“and if, when all is said and done, he is on the opposing side?”</p><p>“he’s family.”</p><p>“but if he and Ra’s and Thalia don’t want to run the risk of opposing the light?”</p><p>Richard looked like he was struggling. Kaldur took a step forward, wanting to reach out. He stopped himself.</p><p>“I can’t make decisions based on what my family want.”</p><p>Kaldur nodded.</p><p>Richard took a deep breath, “we’re gonna need a plan.”</p><p>“tomorrow’s mission to the mountain…”</p><p>Dick looked up, curious.</p><p>“I will use it to ferry a message to Batgirl,” he said, “we will find a way to have a meeting, we will make this work.”</p><p>Richard nodded, silent. The two watched each other for a long time.</p><p>“why take the risk?” Richard asked.</p><p>“what do you mean?”</p><p>“why risk confronting me about this,” Richard said, slowly, “If you couldn’t persuade me you’d have blown your cover.”</p><p>Kaldur opened his mouth to speak, couldn’t find the words, closed it.</p><p>He stared at Richard’s eyes, still trying to place them.</p><p>“I think I know you.”</p><p>Richard blinked, genuinely surprised, his voice was breath, “what?”</p><p>“I know you, from somewhere, I’m sure of it,” Kaldur said, frowning, “and I’m sure that you know where.”</p><p>Richard bit his lip and looked away, “I don’t want to talk about that.”</p><p>“so it’s true?” Kaldur said, “we’ve met before?”</p><p>Richard grit his teeth and walked over to the computer, using the excuse of checking the systems. He leaned over the keyboard against the bench.</p><p>“no,” Kaldur said, grabbing his shoulder and turning him around, “no, I’ve had enough of the secrets. I’m trusting you, Richard.” He let his expression hold the truth of the statement, “you don’t have to tell me everything, just tell me that you know me, tell me how.”</p><p>“I can’t.”</p><p>“I don’t need a name or a detailed story,” Kaldur said, holding onto Richard’s shoulders, “just tell me how I know you, it’s driving me <em>insane</em>.”</p><p>Richard looked him in the eyes, face sad but also… something else, he wasn’t sure what, was swimming in his expression. He shook his head.</p><p>“why not?”</p><p>“because I know what you’ll think of me!” Richard scowled, pushing Kaldur’s hands away.</p><p>“I trust you-“</p><p>“it’s not about trust,” Richard said, “I know that’s already broken, it has been for years. It’s about the look I know you’ll give me if I tell you who I am- who I was.”</p><p>Kaldur sighed. He should drop this, he should let it go. But he <em>needed</em> to know. If he didn’t he’d spend the rest of his life wondering.</p><p>“you don’t want to know, Kal,” Richard said, voice low, a spiteful smile starting to grow at the corners of his mouth, “you have other things to focus on than your disappointment.”</p><p>“you think I’d be disappointed?” Kaldur said with a raised eyebrow, “you’re probably the most skilled assassin I’ve ever met. What, did you try to kill me once and failed?”</p><p>Richard snorted, “you have no idea how far from truth that is,” he looked away, “that’s the problem though.”</p><p>“what?”</p><p>Richard didn’t answer.</p><p>“what do you mean that’s the problem?”</p><p>Richard shook his head and crossed his arms.</p><p>“Richard-“</p><p>“Dick.”</p><p>Kaldur blinked, “excuse me?”</p><p>Richard smiled, only small, and looked down, “Dick Grayson.”</p><p>Kaldur stared. Eyes fixated on Richard’s face, fixated on Richard’s eyes. That bright blue. He’d known it. all this time he’d known it.</p><p>They were what stared at him from the photos of the team, from the newspapers. They haunted him from his memories. The friend he couldn’t find, the friend he always missed, the friend he felt he’d failed.</p><p>
  <em>“Robin?”</em>
</p><p>The word was a whisper. Kaldur couldn’t believe it, couldn’t make himself believe it because it seemed so impossible. But he said the word, and with it and Richard’s reaction it became truth.</p><p>Richard smiled in a sad way, looking down at the ground, “I think I’ve outlived that title.”</p><p>Kaldur stared.</p><p>“probably don’t deserve it anyway.”</p><p>Kaldur shook his head, “I…” he looked Richard up and down.</p><p>“thought I was dead?” Dick said with the smallest of smirks.</p><p>Kaldur’s head kept shaking as his face slowly turned from surprised to happy, as his eyes crinkled and his mouth turned upwards, “never.”</p><p>Dick chuckled, disbelieving.</p><p>“I knew you were alive,” Kaldur laughed, it was the only warning Dick got because the next second Kaldur had grabbed his long lost friend’s shoulders and pulled him into a crushing hug, “I <em>knew it</em>.”</p><p>Dick was laughing, arms grabbing Kaldur around the shoulders in a long needed embrace. He buried his face in Kaldur’s neck.</p><p>Kaldur pushed out of the hug, staring incredulously, “Your sister is Thalia Al Ghul’s <em>daughter</em>?”</p><p>Dick burst into laughter, running one hand through his hair, “yeah.”</p><p>Kaldur seemed to realise something, then grabbed Dick’s shoulders again, “Jason’s alive.”</p><p>“yes,” Dick said, eyes bright, “Ra’s… I don’t know, he put Jason in the pits. I don’t know why. He wanted to go back and find Batman but he was… this ball of rage, and, he had to stay so he could control it.”</p><p>“but he’s alive,” Kaldur said, “oh my god, Barbara is gonna freak out about this.”</p><p>“it is Barbara, I knew it!” Dick pointed in Kaldur’s face, “do you have any idea how many times she tried to persuade me to teach her to be a hero?”</p><p>Kaldur snorted and held a hand over his mouth.</p><p>“Oh my god, she’s gonna kill me,” Dick said, “so is Artemis. They are all going to <em>kill</em> me.”</p><p>“oh, yeah, Wally’s been looking for you for a while.”</p><p>Dick shook his head, “of course he has.”</p><p>“hey, he never got over your last conversation with him.”</p><p>Dick blinked, “really?”</p><p>Kaldur frowned, “no, why?”</p><p>“he didn’t tell you?”</p><p>“tell me what?”</p><p>Dick rubbed at the back of his head, “uh, well.” He laughed awkwardly, “we kinda professed our love and then yelled about being useless for a bit and then I disappeared.”</p><p>“well,” Kaldur shrugged, “that’s probably why he never got over it. he owes you an apology and a punch in the face.”</p><p>Dick giggled.</p><p>Kaldur took a deep breath, fighting off further laughter, “I should be yelling at you about disappearing.”</p><p>Dick nodded, “oh yeah.”</p><p>“I can’t believe you just… left,” Kaldur said, running a hand along his head, “no one thinks you’re dead, but-“</p><p>“I’m sorry,” Dick said, “not to Batman, he can suck it.”</p><p>Kaldur couldn’t fight the laugh this time.</p><p>“but you and the team… you were my friends, my family, and I just disappeared.” He sighed, “I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt anyone when I left I was just… tired of Batman and going through some stuff, but that’s no excuse for the pain I put you all through.”</p><p>Kaldur grabbed him by the shoulders into a hug once more, this time less exuberant and more comforting.</p><p>“remember who you’re talking to,” he muttered, “I’m the one making my friends believe I’m a traitor. I get it.”</p><p>“you’re not actually a traitor, though,” Dick said, voice sad, “I am.”</p><p>“was.”</p><p>Dick smiled into Kaldur’s shoulder, “don’t expect me to give out information on the league of assassins.”</p><p>“never,” Kaldur said, “they’re your family, too. I guess you’ll have to awkwardly walk the line.”</p><p>“Hey, I’m a circus kid,” Dick shrugged, “I can walk a tightrope.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932412" name="_Toc51932412"></a>Performance</strong>
</h1><p> </p><h2>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932413" name="_Toc51932413"></a>A Mountain Raid</strong>
</h2><p> </p><p>Artemis met Kaldur in his office.</p><p>He was leaning against his desk, knuckles against his mouth, elbow against the other arm. The top half of his armour was absent, revealing his tattoos.</p><p>“you asked to see me, boss?” she said, and if she payed attention she could hear the fake voice the glamour charm created. Or maybe she was imagining it.</p><p>Kaldur nodded to the corner of the room’s ceiling, where a camera sat, “video’s out, so is microphones.”</p><p>Artemis sighed as her muscles relaxed, she let the tension evaporate as she sat down in the empty chair.</p><p>“how did the mission go?”</p><p>Kaldur allowed the smallest of smiles, “very well.”</p><p>“oh?”</p><p>Kaldur couldn’t fight the smile anymore, it broke free. Artemis hadn’t seen him so happy in… months. A year. A weight on her shoulders disappeared.</p><p>“Dick is on our side.”</p><p>“Dick?”</p><p>“short for Richard,” Kaldur waved his hand, “he’ll work with us.”</p><p>Artemis’ eyebrows shot up, “what?”</p><p>Kaldur’s smile didn’t stop.</p><p>Artemis laughed, “oh my god, are you kidding?” she ran her hand through her hair, “how? Why? What?”</p><p>Kaldur seemed to struggle with wording. “we had a heart to heart.” He eventually said.</p><p>“that’s one hell of a conversation,” she said, leaning back in her chair, “you’re sure?”</p><p>“one hundred percent.”</p><p>“okay,” she said, “what’s our plan?”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Dick was quite sure he’d have taken a knife to his throat by now if it weren’t for the fact that he found the terror twins vaguely amusing, in an annoying, undereducated way. Like watching the old looney toons cartoons.</p><p>“Brother Tommy, I think we’re plumb crazy to trust this speller, I mean it wasn’t two years ago mister Aqualad here, was tryna lock us back up in Belle Reve.”</p><p>Tuppence Terror was almost identical to her teenaged self. Perhaps a little taller and broader in the shoulders, maybe she was a bit more edgy and gothic in an… energy way, maybe it was the vibes.</p><p>“Well, sister Tuppence, folks say he had a change of heart after finding out who his pappy is.”</p><p>Dick rolled his eyes, forcing himself not to meet Kaldur’s eyes. He’d probably burst out laughing. Instead he stared at his screen, arms crossed, glancing at Artemis every now and then.</p><p>She hadn’t said a word to him. had Kaldur told her?</p><p>Icicle Junior swept in behind Tuppence, placing a hand on her shoulder, “I heard he switched sides cause of some girl, which I totally get, you know, if it’s the right girl.”</p><p>Dick had to fight his gag. He caught Artemis’ eye and pointedly looked at the two talking, then rolled his eyes. He thought he caught the slightest hint of a smirk.</p><p>“step back junior, you’re givin’ me the chills.”</p><p>“but in a good way, right babe?”</p><p>Artemis caught his eye again and, after checking none of the others were watching, mimed herself gagging. Dick smiled and stuck his tongue out in a disgusted face.</p><p>“me? I’m more concerned about this Tigress.” Artemis and Dick both glanced at Tommy Terror as he said the words, immediately sobering into their straight-backed positions, “How come the Terror Twins ain’t never heard of her before?”</p><p>“you know we can hear you?” Dick said, keeping the appropriate amount of distaste in his voice, accompanying the snide side eying tone. The correct mixing of mood was a skill he’d perfected whilst accompanying Ra’s and Thalia to their multiple meetings, most of which of a political nature.</p><p>“that we do, mistah,” Tommy smirked with a raised eyebrow as he turned over the back of the chair, “these are open questions, ya see.”</p><p>Dick and Artemis managed a moment where they shared eye contact, then Artemis spoke up.</p><p>“so, which one of you want to ask those questions of Black Manta?”</p><p>Dick couldn’t fight the boasting smile and turned back to his screen, fighting the chuckle.</p><p>“Which one of you wants to suggest to the big bad, that his son and his son’s hand-picked right hand can’t be trusted?”</p><p>Artemis was <em>very good</em> at the haughty, confident, raised-eyebrow voice. Dick shot her a smile as she turned back to her own screen.</p><p>Distantly Dick could hear Junior leaning over Tuppence again, “don’t look so defeated, I’m here for you babe.”</p><p>Dick rolled his eyes. Junior just had no clue how to woo a woman, did he?</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“ha, ha! Left them in the dust!”</p><p>“left who in the dust?” Batgirl asked, arms crossed as she frowned at Impulse and Blue Beetle, her eyes widened as they landed on the object in Impulse’s hand, “and what is that?”</p><p>“souvenir!”</p><p>“souvenirs are beast boy’s thing, <em>ese</em>.”</p><p>“really I thought they were Kid Flash’s?”</p><p>“can we get to it?” Batgirl asked, two seconds from glaring.</p><p>“Sorry, Aqualad attacked us with Icicle Junior, the Terror Twins, and two unknown ninja people I didn’t recognise.”</p><p>Uh oh, it was happening.</p><p>Batgirl took a deep breath as she listened to Impulse finish the explanation. It was time for Kaldur to storm the mountain. She had to keep her wits about her.</p><p>“this is how he tracked Blue, I made sure they couldn’t do it again.”</p><p>Batgirl prepared for the acting she’d have to do, “so you brought foreign, possibly alien tech into the cave? Rookie mistake,” she glared, even though that was exactly what they had expected Impulse to do. She was, in hindsight, glad it had been Impulse Blue Beetle was with, as expected. She then sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, “alright, give it here.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The mountain was silent. Deathly silent. Batgirl had made sure to pull the right strings that had the inhabitants at lower numbers, most of which either in bed or otherwise preoccupied in their rooms.</p><p>All going according to plan, Kaldur would emerge from the water, quickly dismissing Sphere. Artemis and Renegade would sneak in via the vent system. The other three… she wasn’t sure.</p><p>Renegade hacked the motion sensors and cameras, just to make sure everything looked legit for the terrors and junior.</p><p>“Batgirl, Beetle and the speedster are in the main room,” Renegade said, pointing it out to the rest of the team, keeping his voice low. Artemis had already put a collar on Wolf and had more on hand for the rest, “Superboy is in here,” he pointed out on the map, “Beast Boy is in his room, here.”</p><p>Kaldur nodded, “Tuppence, Tigress, take Beast Boy. We’ll deal with Superboy. Then meet to take the remaining three.”</p><p>As they walked to the grotto Dick allowed himself and Kaldur to fall behind, turning his head to Kaldur.</p><p>“you didn’t tell Tigress,” he said, lowly.</p><p>“she knows you’re working with us.”</p><p>“but not who I am.”</p><p>“no.”</p><p>“why not?”</p><p>Kaldur grimaced, “long story.”</p><p>Dick shared a look with him, hoping he conveyed the fact that he understood his apprehension.</p><p>“it’s on the drive,” Kaldur said, even quieter than before.</p><p>Dick nodded.</p><p>“where’s Isabel?”</p><p>Dick smiled, “not sure, I wasn’t gonna bring her on the ship, she can take care of herself.”</p><p>“how will you find her? Does she have a tracker?”</p><p>Dick shook his head, “don’t expect me to know how, but she can always find me.”</p><p>Kaldur said, “so it’s a cryptic ‘just don’t ask about it’ situation.”</p><p>“hey, she’s bred for this,” he shrugged, “I stopped questioning how weird the court can be a long time ago.”</p><p>And then they were there, the grotto. Tommy and Icicle took the lead, but when Tommy held the collar up Superboy made a hit. As Tommy flew back Junior grabbed the collar and snapped it on. Superboy elbowed him back, no superstrength but still manoeuvrability, he stumbled away. Right towards Dick.</p><p>Renegade caught Superboy’s punch.</p><p>“sorry,” he smirked, forcing a laugh to tint his voice, “collar’s taken out your strength.”</p><p>Which was a shame, because he would enjoy a rematch with Conner. He hadn’t fought him since they’d sparred all those years ago. They didn’t get to finish, no winner was named.</p><p>As Renegade moved between Conner’s attempts at hits he delivered a few of his own, eventually getting him down in a lock. Jamming Conner’s face into the ground beneath him.</p><p>“sucks, I know,” Renegade hissed, “I’d love to have a fair fight with you.”</p><p>He knocked him out.</p><p>“Don’t know about you Junior, but I’m holding some old resentments against this boy,” Tommy said.</p><p>Dick rolled his eyes as he stood. of course that’s all Tommy cared about.</p><p>“oh yeah, let’s finish him,” Junior said.</p><p>Dick was about to make something up, but Kaldur caught him to it.</p><p>“Belay that.”</p><p>He was staring at the hologram of Aquagirl. Dick felt a pang watching him be so clearly pained.</p><p>“when the time is right you will have your revenge,” Kaldur assured the two boys, “for now, I need Superboy alive.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Batgirl was not an actress, she really wasn’t. it was a good thing they’d organised Artemis’ death to only include the others after the especially difficult acting part. Now, however, she had to sell it, start to finish. Which included being surprised about all of it.</p><p>What she didn’t have to fake her surprise for was when Renegade appeared.</p><p>She would have let him win, but even still she could tell he was an amazing fighter. Once she was down the collar snapped on. He leaned in.</p><p>“hey there Babs,” he grinned.</p><p>She froze, staring at him.</p><p>
  <em>“what?”</em>
</p><p>He was still smiling, smirking almost. She glared, scowled and hooked her ankles around his throat to slam him to the ground. She got to her feet quickly.</p><p>Renegade stood as well, smiling at her.</p><p>Barbara moved to fight again, intending to beat out of him how he knew that name. that <em>nickname</em>. She forgot for a moment she was supposed to be letting them <em>win</em>.</p><p>And then electricity was running through her and she remembered that she had to sell this. She collapsed to her knees.</p><p>She could hear, distantly as she breathed and regained her bearings, Blue Beetle and Kaldur conversing. The bomb was revealed. She knew how this was supposed to go, this was charted territory once more. Renegade had thrown her off her rhythm, but she had to get her head in the game. Hopefully Kaldur’s information would fill in some gaps, if not she would have chances after this to follow up.</p><p>Kaldur was making the excuses, ensuring that only Blue Beetle, Beast Boy and Impulse were captured. Batgirl struggled up.</p><p>“Aqualad,” she scowled, glaring, “You’ll regret this!”</p><p>Kaldur stalked over, ever so good at selling this. He punched her in the gut and she doubled over, making sure she had securely grabbed the USB in a way that no one could see it.</p><p>“I believe I have outgrown the name Aqualad,” he scowled and turned away, “or anything resembling regret.”</p><p>She only paid enough attention to Kaldur’s warning about the switch’s five mile radius to acknowledge about how long she probably had to get people out. As soon as they were out of the room she grabbed Conner’s shoulder and shook him awake.</p><p>“what-“</p><p>“I’m getting your collar off,” she explained as she pulled out a tool, “we have to get out of here before the bomb explodes.”</p><p>
  <em>“Bomb-“</em>
</p><p>“yes, bomb, catch up.”</p><p>The collar clicked off and Conner grabbed her’s and it crumbled in his hand.</p><p>“Grab Wolf,” she ordered, “I’ll get Sphere.”</p><p>Conner nodded and stumbled out, becoming more sure of his steps and oriented as he walked.</p><p>She wasn’t fast enough. They got caught in the debris field. Barbara cringed and squinted her eyes, hoping this didn’t end with her at the bottom of the beach-bed.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Dick sat in his chair, but he’d turned it to face Kaldur. Artemis was standing to his side. The rest chatting in their little rumour mill of three.</p><p>Kaldur turned to Artemis.</p><p>“do it.”</p><p>She raised an eyebrow, glancing around to make sure the terrors and junior weren’t watching. She took off the mask, “are you sure?”</p><p>Dick figured out what they were talking about. He caught Kaldur’s eye and hoped he’d managed to convey his objection to the idea of blowing up the mountain. What if Barbara and Superboy didn’t get out on time?</p><p>Kaldur flitted his eyes away from Dick quickly. He looked at Artemis’ hand, the real dead man’s switch primed and ready. “do it.”</p><p>Artemis looked away, put the mask back on. Dick waited a moment more to see if he could catch Kaldur’s eye. He couldn’t, and he turned back to his screen.</p><p>Artemis hit the button.</p><p>Mount Justice was no more.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Barbara nursed her cup of coffee, staring at it as if it would hold the answers.</p><p>The flash drive was…</p><p>Oh god, her brain was all over the place.</p><p>The tubes lit up, she didn’t turn. She knew who it would be.</p><p>
  <strong>Kid Flash B03</strong>
</p><p>“what. Happened.”</p><p>Barbara closed her eyes, pursed her lips and set the mug down.</p><p>“it was necessary.” She had been telling herself that for hours now. For weeks now. For months now.</p><p>“it better have been. Spill.” She didn’t turn, didn’t think she could look at Wally without breaking down. She had to get through the important parts first. The explanations, the catch ups. Then she could cry. Then she could scream. Then she could tell him about the other things Kaldur told her on that drive.</p><p>She sighed and dove in to the explanation.</p><p>“Aqualad needed to find a way to help us rescue Lagoon Boy. He’d already injected a microscopic tag into L’Gaan’s bloodstream and used the raid on the cave to pass essential intel. A flash drive,” she held it up, still not looking at him. still staring into the distance, “with, among other things, tracking software that can locate the tag.”</p><p>“like that’s all he did,” Wally got out through gritted teeth.</p><p>“Wally he had to make it look good,” Barbara said, leaning back in the chair, eyes still down and closed, “he put inhibitor collars on us but he knew I’d get us out of them.”</p><p>“he took three more hostages!” Wally said, incredulous, “members of your team!”</p><p>“and we’ll rescue them when we rescue Lagoon boy,” Batgirl said, sitting up straight and gritting her teeth.</p><p>Wally slammed his hands on the table, “<em>Barbara he blew up the cave! You guys almost died!”</em></p><p>Barbara finally risked looking at him. “no,” she sighed, standing up, “it’s all on the flash drive. He knew I’d have to pursue to make it look legit and that’s exactly what happened, he gave us time to get out, we just…” she looked away, sighing, “we got caught in the debris field from the explosion.”</p><p>“do you even hear yourself?” Wally hissed, voice dangerously low, “what if even <em>one </em>of you had been left behind, huh? Why take that risk? Why go to such extremes?!”</p><p>Barbara pinched the bridge of her nose, “the drive explains that, too.” She sat on the arm of the chair, crossing her arms, “he needed to cement his place within the light and with their partner.”</p><p>“wasn’t that why he ‘murdered’ Artemis,” Wally said, making air quotes.</p><p>“I guess it didn’t convince everyone.”</p><p>
  <em>“you GUESS?!”</em>
</p><p><em>“THE CAVE IS- was just a place!” </em>Barbara yelled, for the first time in the whole conversation. For a moment Wally looked surprised and rightfully guilty before he delved back into his determination, “It was worth sacrificing if it helps us stop the invasion.” She took a deep breath, scowled, “look, I’m sorry you lost all your souvenirs-“</p><p>“are you kidding?!” Wally grabbed her by the collar of her suit, “I don’t care about that junk! I’m worried about Artemis!” he pushed her into the chair, “Terrified for her! You put her right in his hands!”</p><p>“Wally we’re talking about Kaldur here!” Barbara reminded.</p><p>“I know,” Wally said, “Kaldur, my friend, who, within the space of a few months, <em>lost the love of his life</em>, and found out that Black Manta is his father. Isn’t it possible he might actually be a traitor,” he said, his hand sliding his glasses off to place them on the table, which he leaned against, eyes tired, “a triple agent?”</p><p>Barbara only glared.</p><p>“he’s supposed to be playing them,” he said, turning his head to stare at her, “are you absolutely sure he isn’t playing you?”</p><p>Barbara pursed her lips.</p><p>“how dare you.”</p><p>Wally blinked.</p><p>She turned her gaze on him, with all the fury she could possibly lay on him, “how <em>dare</em> you suggest, consider, that your friend, who has been killing himself to do everything he can to protect the people he loves,” she stood, each word punctuated by the stress she was throwing into her words, “would ever, in his life, turn against you. He is throwing away any chance he has of returning to his true home, to his king, to his family, to even create some <em>Hope </em>of an upper hand over the Light.”</p><p>Wally was staring at the table, taking Barbara’s verbal beat down without complaint. All he did was stare at the table, jaw clenched as he closed his eyes. Barbara was quite sure she saw the smallest bit of water budding up at the corners.</p><p>“Kaldur has sacrificed so fucking much in the past year, how <em>dare </em>you <em>walk in here and suggest</em>,” her voice was rising, she wasn’t sure when that had started, “that he could <em>ever </em>turn against you.”</p><p>Wally’s head dropped, his shoulders tense as he took deep breaths to fight off the guilt ridden expression and the wetness of his eyes.</p><p>Batgirl took her own steadying breaths, trying to regain composure. There was more emotional turmoil to throw into this conversation.</p><p>“while you’re here,” she said, refusing to give up the moral high ground she’d created, “do you want to know what else was said on the drive? Or would you rather give up entirely?”</p><p>Wally stood, wiped away his eyes and looked at her, “what?”</p><p>Barbara wasn’t sure how she should word this. She sat on the table, kicking her feet like she was a child. She remembered her first day in the suit, sitting on top of a building, wondering how Dick had managed to throw himself off so many without a care in the world.</p><p>Dick…</p><p>At the memory of him she almost broke. But she couldn’t. she had to tell Wally. Now.</p><p>“Kaldur talked to Renegade,” she started, “he’s on our side.”</p><p>Wally blinked, “what? How?”</p><p>“because,” she sighed, “I don’t know. But. I’m not sure if it’s a reason why or a contributing factor. I don’t know. I…”</p><p>“Babs.”</p><p>“I’m rambling, look,” she cleared her throat, took a deep breath, “Renegade is-“ her voice stopped working, he throat constricted, the air disappeared, she took a breath and it wouldn’t fill her lungs but she managed to squeak out, “he’s Dick. Renegade is Richard Grayson.”</p><p>Wally froze.</p><p>“Jason’s alive, too,” she said, and a tear slipped out and ran down her cheek, she let out a shuddered breath, “he’s alive, at Nanda Parbat.”</p><p>“you have got to be fucking kidding me.”</p><p>Barbara shook her head.</p><p>“you. Have got. To be <em>fucking kidding me, Dick ran off to the fucking league of assassins?!” </em>Wally was throwing his hands about the air, “<em>I’m gonna go find a way to actually make a difference, </em>he said, <em>Wally the League’s a sham, </em>he said, <em>Wally, Batman’s an ass who can’t do his job right, </em>he said, and then he goes and <em>becomes a fucking assassin?!”</em></p><p>Barbara blinked, staring at Wally, “what?”</p><p>Wally pointed a finger, “I told him I loved him, you know? I told him, ‘Dick, it’s okay, we can figure this out’ but <em>no</em>, he ran off because he’s a huge fucking ass, who’s super fucking full of himself, and now he comes back?! you have got to be fucking <em>kidding me</em>.”</p><p>Barbara was just staring as Wally continued to rant, spilling out everything that had happened that night six years ago. He’d never told anyone about this. Never. And now he was laughing darkly and screaming and ranting and pacing and waving his hands around.</p><p>“oh, Dick,” she mumbled, watching Wally continue to spaz out, “you’ve really fucked up now.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Kaldur was beginning to despise his office.</p><p>Really it wasn’t much of an <em>office </em>perse. It was a room with a desk and computer specifically designed with the intent of being used for mentally gruelling work and holding huge stacks of paper.</p><p>It was a study. But it was fancy and used by a double agent lieutenant for a militaristic organisation. So <em>office </em>sounded a bit better than <em>study</em>. Or at least a little less like it commonly housed a college student readying for mental breakdown inducing exams.</p><p>He was only of a college student’s age and his mental breakdowns had to do with the fate of the world.</p><p>Nevertheless, he spent most of his time in his <em>office</em>, as it was a room without surveillance where none of his father’s men would be. It was a semi-safe area, considering it was on a fighter sub.</p><p>So it was the place he went to brood. Or to deliberate. Or to mentally lecture himself. Really what he was annoyed about was childish and foolish, so it was less of an inner lecture and more of an inner chastisement.</p><p>He still had not told Artemis who Dick was. It had been three days.</p><p>The team would be regrouping and re-amalgamating. Finding a new safe base of operations, configuring things, relocating and organising their living conditions. But Kaldur guessed that they would launch a rescue operation within two weeks, by the end of one week at the earliest.</p><p>If they showed up and Artemis still didn’t know it’d be a mess. She needed to be able to trust him entirely. Not only that but he’d put the information on the flash drive, so Batgirl knew. If they could organise another meet he’d definitely be dragging Dick along and Artemis would find out whether he liked it or not.</p><p>Not to mention, there was no reason <em>not to tell her. No reason at all. None. </em></p><p>So why couldn’t he? He’d tried the first night, when he’d told her Renegade was on their side. He’d configured the sentence in his mind, strung the words together. But when he tried to put sound to concept the words had died on his tongue and he’d suddenly been incapable. His mouth would not do as it was told.</p><p>Maybe it was because he knew Artemis would react emotionally. Kaldur considered himself someone of a rare conscience who, when told his friend who’d been gone for six years was actually an assassin, did not react in anger or confusion but mere happiness that he finally knew where that friend was at all. Yes, Dick had technically betrayed their trust in a way. Yes, he had left knowing his friends could think him dead. Yes, he had failed to tell Kaldur who he was for the months they’d been working together. <em>But-</em></p><p>Well, there really was no ‘but’ other than Kaldur didn’t want to be mad at him. in a logical sense, he figured the surprise and elation just outweighed the anger. In an emotional sense, he expected that he’d become blinded by his feelings.</p><p>Which was a concept he didn’t like thinking about so he preferred to take the logical one as fact and move on.</p><p>But he knew Artemis would not react the same way.</p><p>For her it would be a right hook to the face and a shouting match before she even <em>thought</em> of hugging him. Wally would probably be the same.</p><p>But he had no right to keep it from her. He couldn’t use her reaction to fact as an excuse to keep it from her.</p><p>So he sat at his desk in his office and stared at the black wooden surface before him, chin resting on knitted hands in a way that was only a few slight movements away from that of prayer. He found it strange how so many positions and forms of body language were associated with prayer, with faith. Maybe it was because, in the end, when humanity was stumped by their choices in life, they threw fear to the wind and trusted in the process. They trusted in god, in money, in power, in privilege, in hope. They trusted.</p><p>They trusted and they acted, and if something went wrong they would keep making choices, keep trying till something went right or they died. Humanity, the eternal try-ers. The infinite hopefuls. Maybe that was why faith and religion had become so intrinsic over the millennia. It was just Humanity trying to create the world around them.</p><p>Trying to explain the world. In the beginning there was nothing and then god said let there be light.</p><p>Trying to explain love. Aphrodite was so pained by Adonis’ death she bore down upon the enemy in her golden chariot, she pricked herself on a rose thorn and where her blood landed love bloomed.</p><p>Trying to explain pain. when the gods found out about their bond, they were eternally separated, so that life could flourish on earth, the reason did not matter to Geb and Nut, they would never be able to see each other again, that is why when you look at the stars you feel great sadness.</p><p>And trying to give meaning, reason.</p><p>Kaldur had stopped believing in religion a long time ago. Had stopped putting his faith in the unknown. Had stopped trusting.</p><p>Had stopped <em>trying </em>to trust.</p><p>So all he was left with was the fear of not knowing what would happen, and the inability to believe it would be okay in the end if it went wrong in the beginning. If Kaldur were a god he would never bring about light because he would be too afraid he’d burn at the sight of it.</p><p>His door opened, Dick walked in.</p><p>If Kaldur were a god, he may bring about the light just to see it reflect in his blue eyes.</p><p>Dick grabbed the chair from across the room, the one Artemis had sat in when Kaldur had told her Dick was working with them. Kaldur hadn’t moved it from the corner of the small room since he’d first walked in. it was strange seeing it moved now. But Dick wasn’t aware of that, he merely pulled it up to the desk and sat before Kaldur.</p><p>“good morning,” Kaldur mumbled, letting his hands fall to rest against the desk, clasped together. His elbows were still holding him up. Once he’d finished speaking he let his eyes drift back to the surface of the desk.</p><p>“It’s 1600 hours.”</p><p>“I woke up two hours ago, it’s morning.”</p><p>Dick chuckled.</p><p>“what are you doing here?”</p><p>Dick shrugged, “Tigress said you were here, figured I would join you. I expected you to be drinking.”</p><p>Kaldur breathed a laugh through his nose, then leaned back into his chair, “no surveillance, you can call her Artemis.”</p><p>Dick nodded, “still not drinking, though.”</p><p>Kaldur shook his head, “can’t afford to.”</p><p>Dick nodded. Silent. There was no sound. In the beginning there was darkness.</p><p>“you blew up the mountain.”</p><p>Then god said let there be light.</p><p>Explosive. The words were quiet, near murmured, yet they were a crescendo against the endless nothing that was the office. Outside the walls the ocean stretched for miles, for eternity, into unpierced, blue-tainted blackness. The water moved like a rhythm this far down, Kaldur used to love it. the constant push and pull of undercurrents, like ribbons pulled and twisted, patterns coiling through. One could stop swimming and let the water move you, a dance with the waves with no effort but what it took to remain relaxed.</p><p>“an entire mountain,” Dick said, and his voice pulled Kaldur from the dark, “gone.” He snapped his fingers, “fragments. Ash on the wind. Gray air and rubble.”</p><p>Kaldur nodded.</p><p>“why?”</p><p>“I had to make it look good,” Kaldur said sadly.</p><p>Dick… seemed to understand the reasoning. Seemed to believe it just as much. But even still it was such an insurmountable action that he couldn’t help but be incredulous.</p><p>“it didn’t already?” he questioned.</p><p>“it was necessary,” Kaldur tried, hoping more clear logic would help.</p><p>“Do I look like Batman?” Dick said with a raised brow, “I don’t care if it was necessary, Barbara and Conner could have died.” His voice was still quiet, still low. It was much like the waves and the currents in that Kaldur could close his eyes and get lost in it. it was also much like the currents in that it could turn dark and twisting and dangerous if he wasn’t paying attention.</p><p>“I trusted her to get them out,” Kaldur said, voice just as quiet and calm as Dick’s, “I knew they’d be okay.”</p><p>“and if they weren’t?” Dick asked.</p><p>Kaldur pursed his lips, “don’t make me answer that.”</p><p>Dick took a deep breath, seemingly satisfied by something Kaldur had said. Maybe he just needed to know for sure that Kaldur was as emotional about it all as him. maybe he just needed the confirmation that he was allowed to be emotional.</p><p>“I still haven’t told Artemis.”</p><p>Dick nodded, “yeah, I can tell, she hasn’t killed me yet.”</p><p>Kaldur chuckled. Once he sobered he pinched the bridge of his nose, slumping in his chair, “I don’t know how.”</p><p>“do you want me to do it for you?” Dick offered.</p><p>Kaldur considered it. nodded. Then shook his head. “no, she needs to hear it from me.”</p><p>“does she?” Dick rubbed at the back of his neck, “it was me who left, disappeared, didn’t come back, etcetera, it’s kinda on me.”</p><p>Kaldur sighed, dropped his hand in his lap and leaned his head against the back of his chair, “no, I’m running this mission. I should have told her when I said you were on our side, then and there. I didn’t. she has a right to know and it should come from the person who’s…” he trailed and moved his hands in sarcastic air quotes, “’leading this operation’.”</p><p>Dick smiled sadly, “and yet, I’m still the one who should have told you when we first met again. Hell, I should have told you six years ago. I should have at least said a goodbye.”</p><p>“yes, but I should have realised you were in turmoil,” Kaldur said, sitting up straight, “I was your leader, more than that, your friend. I should have helped.”</p><p>“there was no way you could have, Kal. Do not start blaming yourself,” Dick sighed. Then laughed, “what is this, a guilt off? An argument over who’s fault everything is. You tell yours, I tell mine?” he shook his head and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms, “god we’re a mess. Our lives are messes.”</p><p>Kaldur snorted, “we did sign up for it.”</p><p>“I was nine, I didn’t understand what I was getting into, I retract my application,” Dick grumbled, then laughed, “oh my god, I was <em>nine</em>.”</p><p>Kaldur laughed, “you truly were indoctrinated. You were the youngest of us all and yet had started before all of us.”</p><p>Dick sighed, “yeah, well, aside from being adopted by batman the only other option was being forced into an assassin cult, so I think I’ve got the preferable life at the moment.”</p><p>“you kinda ended up there anyway,” Kaldur joked.</p><p>Dick feigned insult with a hand to the chest and a gasp, “how dare! The league of assassins may be full of assassins, but we are not a cult.”</p><p>Kaldur smiled, “no creepy cloaks? fancy capes? Shame, you used to really rock a cape.”</p><p>“aw, thank you for noticing,” Dick smiled, “but we prefer hoods and secret knives and outfits made for <em>manoeuvrability</em>.”</p><p>Kaldur scoffed a laugh, “you can’t just attack heroes physically, but our fashion choices, too? Is there no line you will not cross?”</p><p>Dick cackled, “the best assassins point out everything wrong with your outfit before getting blood on it.”</p><p>“is that a service that costs extra?”</p><p>“it’s half the standard wages,” Dick smiled.</p><p>“no wonder we pay you people so much.”</p><p>“you people?” Dick gasped, “why I never!”</p><p>Kaldur laughed, Dick laughed. Their smiles were bright. In the beginning there was nothing. Then God said let there be light.</p><p> </p><h2>
<a id="_Toc51932414" name="_Toc51932414"></a><strong>Before the Dawn</strong>
</h2><p> </p><p>Artemis didn’t know who Renegade- Richard, <em>Dick</em>, whatever, she’d taken to mentally calling him <em>asshole </em>at some point so maybe his nickname being <em>Dick</em> was a happy little accident regardless of how reminiscent it was. Nevertheless she didn’t know who he really was, under the swagger and put-on assassin deadly calm and nonchalance. Perhaps he truly was just as sarcastic as he seemed under the hood, but she thought there was probably something hiding beneath.</p><p>So, she had, of course, reached out. A little.</p><p><em>Technically</em>, she had put this effort into researching before she knew Renegade was on their side. Heck, before she’d fake died. Once Kaldur came to the meeting and said he was around she’d started doing some digging in hopes of getting something of use.</p><p>It did, however, drive her a little insane to come up with a whopping total of <em>nothing</em>.</p><p>It would be so easy if she could just ask her sister. They weren’t on the best terms but she was quite sure she’d be able to persuade her. Without that easy contact and no okay from Kaldur to talk to her as Tigress, she was stuck with the barebones.</p><p>However, Dick- no, she didn’t like it, she couldn’t think of him as Dick it wasn’t right. Richard? No. no, she’d just keep with Asshole. Ass? Butthead. No that was too childish.</p><p>She hadn’t settled on the best nickname by the time she’d walked into the officer’s mess, so she decided to settle on Richard and call it a day.</p><p>She pretended she hadn’t known Richard would be in the mess. In actuality she’d checked the watch schedules and such to see when he’d likely be off duty. If he was such an insomniac he wouldn’t immediately go to bed, and after some careful consideration she wagered he’d be in the mess. It was her lucky day, because he was sitting in the back corner of the room.</p><p>She was still technically on the clock, in a sense, so she was in full gear. This was like taking your half-hour break when on shift work. She got herself a cup of coffee and strode to the corner.</p><p>Richard had taken off the uniform and was now nursing a glass of something Artemis did the courtesy of not looking closely at. He was wearing a jacket and jeans, but Artemis figured he was still carrying weapons and some tech.</p><p>“evening,” Richard greeted as Artemis slid into a chair across from him, “to what do I owe the pleasure?”</p><p>Artemis shrugged and made a show of confidently leaning back in her chair, taking a sip of the coffee and letting it rest on the table, her fingers still loosely around the handle.</p><p>She picked a way to play it and stuck with it before she could back out.</p><p>“you seem cosy with Kaldur’Ahm.”</p><p>Richard raised an eyebrow, took a sip of his drink, leaned forward on his elbows, and said, “okay.”</p><p>“you don’t deny it?”</p><p>“I’m trying to figure out why you’re bringing it up first.” He was frowning.</p><p>“I’m curious,” she said, “I know him well.”</p><p>“I’m sure,” Richard said with a certain smile that told Artemis he knew something she didn’t.</p><p>“so,” she crossed her legs, “what’s the story?”</p><p>Really she just wanted a better understanding of what type of person he was. This was a sure way of catching him off guard.</p><p>“The story is what you’re suggesting is extremely unprofessional,” he finally said, leaning back and taking a sip of his drink.</p><p>“have you talked to half the people around here?” she asked deadpan, “it’s not that bad.”</p><p>Richard made that raised-eyebrow head-nod I’m-considering-your-point face then shrugged, “true.”</p><p>“Look,” she said, “I’m not going to judge, but I will say this,” she was looking at her mug, completely calm, “if you hurt him I will tear you to pieces, toss you in the Lazarus pits and then do it again.”</p><p>Richard nodded, “yes I would figure as much. But you don’t need to worry”</p><p>“because you’re such a gentleman?” she asked deadpan.</p><p>“no, because I’m not going to pursue anything with him,” Richard said, “there’s an invasion going on, the Light’s trying to take over and my brother is making me buy him a PS4, I have other things to focus on.”</p><p>Artemis nodded, sipped her coffee.</p><p>“are you off the clock?” Richard asked.</p><p>“in another hour.”</p><p>Richard finished his drink, “wanna spar?”</p><p>“I still have some work to do,” she said in a half-hearted tone that suggested she didn’t care.</p><p>“no one will pull you up, they’re too scared,” he smiled, standing, “I’m gonna do some training, you’re welcome to join.”</p><p>Artemis considered it, actively making a show of it. she hadn’t finished her coffee yet…</p><p>Although, she was only drinking it with the intention of interrogating Richard. So she tipped out the left overs and followed him to the training room.</p><p>There was a small amount of people milling about, sparring working out, etcetera. She paid little attention to them and instead just followed Richard to the empty section of sparring mats.</p><p>“hand to hand?” Artemis asked.</p><p>Richard surveyed a katana on a rack, he slid it from the sheath, balanced it in his hand and made a few twirls with it in the air.</p><p>“nah, let’s actually make it interesting.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Dick did not like the reach. At all.</p><p>He was keenly reminded of that when Kaldur was brought to the Reach’s ship to give them their captives. Artemis was overseeing that, Dick was staying by Kaldur’s side seeing as he was supposed to be his bodyguard.</p><p>“And this is our head scientist,” the ambassador introduced.</p><p>Kaldur bowed his head in greeting and the scientist copied the gesture.</p><p>“I would like to offer you a tour of our labs,” she said, voice smooth, “so you may see what we have been able to accomplish with the many subjects you have supplied us.”</p><p>“Of course,” Kaldur said.</p><p>“will your servant be joining us?” the scientist said, looking at Dick with slightly knitted brows.</p><p>“he is my body guard, where I go he goes,” Kaldur explained.</p><p>“ah,” she nodded, “much like our warrior in position. However you are quite slim, are you a meta-human?”</p><p>Dick grit his teeth and forced his voice to not become defensive, “no, but I am well trained.”</p><p>“I see,” she said, “well, follow me.”</p><p>Dick really wished they hadn’t had to take the offer out of courtesy. He did not appreciate looking at all the civilian teenagers that were stuck in the Reach’s tubes. It reminded him far too much of the court’s iced coffins.</p><p>He wasn’t paying much attention to the scientist’s explanations. The way she talked about their investigations into the meta-gene made it obvious that they intended to weaponize it, but he wasn’t interested in interrogating her.</p><p>“you seek to weaponize it,” Kaldur said.</p><p>Evidently Kaldur had every intention of interrogating.</p><p>“you never mentioned he was clever,” the scientist said to the ambassador. Dick was beginning to hate the fact they didn’t have names.</p><p>“does the gene present itself the same in Reach as it does humans?” Dick asked, drawing the attention of the other three. He was standing by their worktable, watching the coffins at the side of the room.</p><p>“pardon?” the ambassador asked.</p><p>“well,” Dick said, “not only are we extremely different species, we also have different bases of life. Humans evolved from apes, we’re sapiens. The reach seem more related to insectoid biology, or arthropods. Would a gene presenting in humans work similairly in Reach or would the biological difference hinder your ability to weaponize it amongst your own troops?”</p><p>The scientists blinked, “we have… thought of that,” she said, hesitantly.</p><p>The ambassador turned on her, “you have not brought it up with me,” he said calmly.</p><p>“I have begun writing up possible experiments to investigate the differences,” the scientist said, “but I did not think there reasonable evidence to bring it to you as of yet,” her tone was turning defensive.</p><p>The ambassador took a moment to calm himself so as to not become aggressive in front of guests, the scientist seemed to do the Reach equivalent of squaring her jaw.</p><p>“it is an interesting point,” Kaldur said, looking at Dick strangely, “what would be your course of action if the metagene proved different within our two species?”</p><p>The scientist looked away and busied herself at the computers, the ambassador fumbled for words for a moment.</p><p>“well…” he said, “I suppose we’ll have to think on such an idea.”</p><p>Kaldur and Dick shared a look. The ambassador came up with some excuse to get them out of the labs, they didn’t put up much of a fight. once left to their own devices Kaldur turned to him.</p><p>“they intend on taking human soldiers.”</p><p>“almost definitely,” Dick said, “but I don’t get it, their scarabs create literal powerhouses. No metahuman could live up to that.”</p><p>“maybe there’s a way that the scarab’s can be altered when attached to someone with an active metagene?” Kaldur said, frowning.</p><p>“we’d need to find a beetle that has a gene, or other abilities.”</p><p>“there is apparently a Martian beetle, somewhere. Maybe it is made more powerful by the inherent Martian abilities?”</p><p>“if we could find that out we could better determine why they came here, which we can use to get them to leave.”</p><p>“how so?”</p><p>“I don’t know a lot about space politics, but I’m pretty sure if we have proof that they’re only here to power-up their army we could force them off. Or at least get aid from other planets that don’t want the reach growing in number.” Dick frowned and rubbed at his chin, “maybe you can get someone to do some research.”</p><p>Kaldur nodded, “we’ll take anything at this point. We just need them gone.”</p><p>They continued walking in companionable silence. Dick was happy with that, Kaldur was not.</p><p>“Artemis told me she decided to annoy you.”</p><p>Dick raised an eyebrow, “annoy?”</p><p>“she wanted to catch you off guard and figure you out as a person,” Kaldur said, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, “apparently she got a bit gossip-y.”</p><p>Dick chuckled, “I think she’s bored with all the stiffs in your troops,” he said, “they don’t really make for interesting conversation.”</p><p>“yes, well, that wasn’t my point in bringing up the topic,” Kaldur said, watching Dick closely.</p><p>“oh, so what was the point?” Dick asked, frowning.</p><p>He hadn’t thought much on what Artemis had asked him. he had sat down in his room and stared at the sun stone necklace for a while, he’d found himself carrying it around as of late. It was even tucked in one of the compartments of his belt at that very moment. He’d considered her questioning of his behaviour around Kaldur. If he removed the complexities of their situation, what would he think?</p><p>He’d probably think that he’d been a bit more flirty than usual, although that could have just been his usual charm. He tended towards overdramatizing his confidence when put off-guard or in a situation he didn’t expect. This was an epitome of that.</p><p>But even still, he hadn’t been thinking much on his emotions, even though Artemis had down-right suggested he had feelings of a specific nature for Kaldur. Which suggested she was wrong and he should continue not worrying about it…</p><p>Although, then again, his feelings for Wally had completely snuck up on him because he’d literally never thought about them. Then all of a sudden one day he’d been chilling with Wally and found himself incapable of tearing his eyes from his friend’s mouth.</p><p>He hadn’t reached that point, at least.</p><p>“the point-“</p><p>Kaldur’s voice broke through his thoughts and he kicked himself for mind wandering. He never did that on mission, he was literally behind enemy lines, <em>what was he doing?</em></p><p>Kaldur was looking for words, “there wasn’t much of a point, really,” he was pointedly looking ahead and not at Dick as he walked.</p><p>Dick snickered, “small talk is probably better kept to when we’re not on an alien ship.”</p><p>Kaldur let the smallest of smiles break free.</p><p>“I suppose I just wanted to ask-“</p><p>Kaldur’s sentence was cut off by the alarms blaring. The lights flickered red.</p><p>Dick’s hand went to his sword, strapped to his back, as he checked every corner and piece of shadow for an enemy.</p><p>“the team is here,” Kaldur said, voice low. His expression for a moment seemed annoyed about something, perhaps just the fact that he’d been interrupted. It was quickly masked and replaced with the calm determination expected of him.</p><p>“I gathered as much,” Dick said, “we’ve got to make this look good.”</p><p>Kaldur nodded, “follow me.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Kaldur, slow down!” Dick tried ordering him. he was supposed to be guarding him, god damnit, he should be taking the lead. Had Kaldur never had an assigned guard before? God, he missed how easy his job was when he was just keeping an eye on Thalia.</p><p>“why don’t you speed up?” Kaldur offered over his shoulder, taking a turn.</p><p>Dick grunted and did so. He took a deep breath, held it a second and as he exhaled he let the wall break. He felt his body tingle as the electrum hiding out in his veins crackled to life. His muscles ached to be pushed to the limit. Energy rushed through him.</p><p>It had been a while since he’d used his electrum. Training against Kaldur had been the last time and it didn’t last long enough to take the edge off. There was a lot of conserved energy coming to the forefront.</p><p>He caught up to Kaldur quickly. By the surprised blink he received he gathered Kaldur had spied the green ringed yellow eyes concealed slightly by the hood.</p><p>“are you going to lose control?”</p><p>Dick rolled his eyes, “I don’t usually do that, it was because the electrum was activated by force, instinct, in response to you attacking me,” he explained as quickly as he could, “I’m activating it by choice now, I’m in control.”</p><p>Kaldur nodded, “give me a warning if you start losing control.”</p><p>“sir yes sir,” Dick grunted.</p><p>He heard voices up ahead, frantic. Kaldur seemed to as well. They were loud enough to be close so whoever it was must have just emerged into earshot from a room.</p><p>Kaldur sped up once more and Dick was too tired of his antics to care to catch up. If he wanted to run ahead and put himself in peril then so fucking be it, Dick would catch up to help when he inevitably ran into a room full of heroes.</p><p>Dick hit the turn just in time to see it happen in full view. Kaldur rushed into the hall, M’Gann down the way with Beast Boy. She laid eyes on him and Dick felt something in him kick in, a need to get over there <em>now</em>.</p><p>But why, it was M’Gann. She was powerful, sure. A real heavy hitter in a sense. But she was still sweet, innocent, nice M’Gann. She wasn’t a thre-</p><p>As she laid eyes on Kaldur she shrieked, <em>“MURDERER.”</em></p><p>Kaldur yelped, grasped his head and collapsed to his knees.</p><p>Dick’s breath left him as he saw it happen. It was a moment to moment kind of change. Suddenly M’gann’s expression turned horrified, a hand cupped her lips.</p><p>Dick rushed up and caught Kaldur before he could collapse entirely. He was staring forwards into space, breath slow. Dick cupped his cheek to make him look into his eyes.</p><p>“<em>Kaldur</em>.” There was no recognition in his eyes.</p><p>Dick wasn’t paying attention to M’Gann or Beast Boy. They could behead him then and there and he wouldn’t notice because Kaldur was-</p><p>God he didn’t even know what had happened, but it was bad. Dick felt like he was going to be sick.</p><p>Artemis turned down the corner, immediately catching sight of Kaldur on the ground and rushing to his side.</p><p>He barely heard M’Gann fall to her knees, Beast Boy shaking her with concern. He looked at her, eyes filled with some mix of fear and shock and horror.</p><p>And suddenly M’Gann was in his mind and Artemis was close by.</p><p><em>‘M’Gann, what have you done?’ </em>Artemis’ voice was just as emotional as Dick was in general.</p><p><em>‘I thought…’ </em>she was staring between the three, <em>‘I thought he killed you, that he… deserved...’</em></p><p>Dick was going to be sick. He was going to throw up. His gut was churning as he stared at his old friend. M’Gann. Sweet, lovely, kind M’Gann.</p><p>She tore her eyes away from Artemis to Dick. And the look in her eyes made him feel so much worse.</p><p>She looked him up and down, <em>‘I… you…’ </em>she wasn’t shielding properly and Dick was getting waves of shock and pain, and he wasn’t shielding his mind either. He was taking it entirely. maybe because he wasn’t paying attention, maybe because he didn’t care, maybe because he thought he deserved it.</p><p>The sunstone felt like it was burning through his belt.</p><p>
  <em>“Robin?”</em>
</p><p>A tear fell down M’gann’s cheek.</p><p>Oh god Dick deserved this.</p><p>Artemis head whipped to look at him. she was staring at him the exact same.</p><p>Dick didn’t say anything, he just kept M’gann’s eye contact. Staring. Trying so damn hard to push all of his apologetic emotion towards her over the mind link she’d accidentally created.</p><p>Beast Boy was still trying to shake M’Gann awake from her state. Dick blinked, looking between everyone.</p><p>“we have to go,” he said to Artemis, voice sounding two seconds from cracking into sobs.</p><p>“you…” the word was quiet.</p><p>Dick just nodded. He gripped Kaldur’s arm.</p><p>He shifted to look at Beast Boy, grabbed a smoke bomb and dropped it.</p><p>“you take yours, we’ll take ours,” he ordered to the young team member, “count yourself lucky, <em>boy</em>.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Artemis and Dick trudged through the Reach halls straight to the docking bay. No one questioned them, too busy running to find the intruders. They carried Kaldur to the manta sub and lay him down on a first aid stretcher tucked into the side.</p><p>Dick took a deep breath once he let go of Kaldur and lent against the wall.</p><p>Artemis grabbed him by the shoulder, tugged him around and right hooked him across the jaw.</p><p>Dick took it. he fell against the wall, keeping on his feet. The electrum had long since disappeared from him and was banging to be let out now but Dick held it down. If Artemis was going to beat him to a pulp for everything he’d done he wanted to <em>feel it</em>.</p><p><em>“you sick son of a bitch!”</em> she screeched, she took off her mask and threw it across the ship. Her grey eyes were perfectly visible, her blonde hair, her face. Dick hurt, deep down, seeing it. he was rubbing at his jaw, coming to stand again. He made himself look at her. He deserved this, god damnit, he deserved it.</p><p><em>“</em>you<em> piece of absolute fucking shit, </em>you<em> cunt,” </em>she grabbed him by the front of his uniform and shoved him against the wall.</p><p>Dick took a deep breath, waiting for the hit.</p><p>Artemis dropped her head, taking deep breaths through her teeth. A horrible, terrible pain filled sound escaped her lips as her head thudded against his chest.</p><p>“I though you were <em>dead</em>,” she sobbed.</p><p>Dick didn’t say anything, he didn’t know what to say. ‘I’m sorry’ wouldn’t fucking cut it.</p><p>“everyone told me you had to be alive because you’re <em>Robin</em>, of course you fucking were, I thought I was the one secretly stable person because <em>I thought you were dead</em>.”</p><p>She sobbed again.</p><p>Dick reached up and slid his hood off, as well as the mask over his mouth. Artemis felt him move and looked up.</p><p>Once she laid eyes on him again she lurched back, pulled her arm and punched him in the gut.</p><p>Dick doubled, hissed out through his teeth, “<em>Jesus Christ</em>.”</p><p>“that’s the first thing you say!” she yelled, “You’ve been gone for six fucking years and the first thing you fucking say is a swear!”</p><p>“what do you want me to say?” Dick asked, voice low as he stood straight, taking a deep breath.</p><p>“Anything!” she yelled, “I want an explanation, an apology, a god damn three thousand word essay on <em>what the fuck-“ </em>she grabbed him by the front and pulled him off balance, snarling in his face, <em>“you’re doing with the league of assassins and why the fuck you LEFT US.</em>”</p><p>Dick very carefully pulled her hands from his clothes and stood straight.</p><p>“I’m sorry.”</p><p>“that’s not enough.”</p><p>“I know,” he said, “that’s why I wasn’t bothering saying it.”</p><p>Artemis tried for another punch but it was powerless and thudded against his chest in a sad hopeless epitome of emotion.</p><p>“you are a piece of absolute shit,” she said.</p><p>“I’m aware,” he said, giving no fight. she seemed angry by that.</p><p>“why are you just standing here?” she hissed, “will you fucking defend yourself already you pile of-“</p><p>“I figured I’d let you have your say first,” he said, quiet. He looked away from her, finally incapable of keeping eye contact without crying.</p><p>“why?” she said, voice ragged, “why did you leave? Why go to- to <em>them </em>of all people? Why did you-“ she broke off, clenching her jaw as the dam wall broke and a tear raced down her cheek, “do you know what you did to Wally? Do you have <em>any idea-</em>“</p><p>“Wally?” Dick frowned, “why? What happened to Wally?”</p><p>Artemis’ eyes lit up in renewed anger, hatred burned as another tear followed the first down her cheek.</p><p>She slapped him.</p><p>“Wally almost <em>died!”</em> she shrieked, “he almost fucking <em>died, because he ran off after you disappeared and went solo and refused to let anyone help him because you gave him the world’s biggest fucking trust issues!”</em></p><p>Dick blinked, rubbing at the side of his face, “what?”</p><p>“<em>Zoom almost tore him into fucking pieces! He was in a coma for months! He couldn’t use his powers without collapsing till like a year ago and he still has trouble sometimes, and it’s all because of you!”</em></p><p>Dick froze, staring at Artemis. His mind slowed.</p><p>Wally…</p><p>
  <em>‘oh, so your instinct is to kill people now?’</em>
</p><p>Dick swallowed down the bile that was rising up his throat. He was shaking, when had that started?</p><p>
  <em>Wally almost died.</em>
</p><p>Dick felt like he was in the pits again. Staring at his sister and then at nothing but green. Anger and hate and fear lurching through him and <em>tearing him to pieces and oh god it fucking hurt-</em></p><p>What had Zoom done to Wally? How close to the brink did he get? Pretty fucking close seeing as he was <em>comatose</em>.</p><p>“one moment.” Dick said, then turned.</p><p>
  <em>“excuse me?”</em>
</p><p>Artemis grabbed his arm, but Dick pulled away before she could do anything. He rushed to the bathroom and threw up everything in him. he was shaking, retching. Trying to breath, shoving air into his lungs, forcing it. it wasn’t happening. Nothing was going in, everything was stuck inside. A ball of energy and pain and confusion and fear and worry and sadness was chasing itself around and around inside. He swallowed the saliva that was sticking at his throat. His throat was burning, stomach acid had bubbled up with some of that vomit. He hadn’t eaten much as of late, there wasn’t much to get out. His throat was burning, his insides were burning, his blood was burning, the sunstone in his belt was burning.</p><p>Dick tore the wall down and let the electrum take hold. He shuddered a breath in as it healed over his insides. Tears were running down his cheeks already but he sobbed once the electrum fought off the physical pain. The emotions were still whirling inside, running at ten thousand miles, but with how fast his heart was beating in sheer panic a lot of energy was bleeding from him and the edge was slowly dissipating.</p><p>This was dangerous. He could get addicted to this. That was the point. There was a lot of heart ache in becoming a talon, the electrum removed that. Alongside the memory wipe and conditioning that came with being one of the court’s soldiers came the fact that sometimes it felt better to just give in. kill a few people, sign your life over to the court, but at least your mind was quiet and the emotions were gone and maybe you could be stuck in hibernation where all the pain disappeared into the endless cold dark.</p><p>Oh god, Dick was starting to wish for the endless dark.</p><p>Kaldur was lying out there, eyes dull and unresponsive, and Dick was sitting in the bathroom with his head resting against the pipes beneath the sink having a panic attack as if he was the most important person in this situation.</p><p>He took a deep breath and let go of the electrum. It felt like coming down, it felt like he was given pure happiness and then had it confiscated, it felt like he was dying.</p><p>He needed Alex. He <em>needed her</em>, now. He wondered if this is how she felt every time she’d been coming down. He wondered if she’d ever stared at the tiles and counted the seconds till Dick walked in.</p><p>His hands were still shaking, ever so slightly, as he pulled his communicator from his belt. He thumbed the button to call her.</p><p>
  <em>‘Dick? What’s up, bud?’</em>
</p><p>Dick took a deep breath. He didn’t want to start this conversation with a sob.</p><p>“Alex,” he said, “remember when I told you I should never use my electrum when I was in emotional turmoil?”</p><p>There was a pause.</p><p>
  <em>“I believe your wording was ‘I should never use my electrum while spazzing out’ but sure.”</em>
</p><p>Dick chuckled, cleared his throat, took a deep breath. He focused on it. trying to get his breathing to fit a proper rhythm. It wasn’t working.</p><p>“I may or may not have used it.”</p><p><em>“oh, shit.” </em>There were sounds like bed springs moving, <em>“okay, how lucid are you?”</em></p><p>Dick liked how she immediately managed to piece together the implication that the effects would be vaguely drug-like.</p><p>“uh,” Dick swallowed, “I don’t know, pretty lucid.” He took a deep breath, “why does everything burn?”</p><p>The electrum wasn’t active but… his blood felt itchy. He wanted to claw at his arms.</p><p>
  <em>“okay, where are you?”</em>
</p><p>“a bathroom,” Dick said.</p><p>
  <em>“okay, I want you to grab onto something and slowly, like really slowly, pull yourself to your feet. While you do so I want you to breath, okay, just deep breaths.”</em>
</p><p>Dick nodded. He grabbed the edge of the sink’s basin and hauled himself up, legs shaking. He focused on the air going in and out of his lungs.</p><p><em>“you up?” </em>Alex asked, <em>“are you steady? If you’re too shaky sit down.”</em></p><p>“I’m good,” Dick let out a deep breath and leaned against the sink, “okay, I’m good.”</p><p><em>“okay.” </em>Alex cleared her throat, <em>“okay, you’re in a bathroom, can you drink the water or is it gross?”</em></p><p>“its fine.”</p><p>
  <em>“okay, wash your face, have a mouthful of water, slowly, separate sips. You’re gonna be okay, alright? Just give it a few seconds and everything will slow down and ease up, you’ll be okay.”</em>
</p><p>Dick nodded, even though Alex couldn’t see it. he ran the tap and did as she told him.</p><p>
  <em>“okay, how you doing?”</em>
</p><p>“I am now panicking with a wet face.”</p><p><em>“look, usually our roles are reversed here, I’m sorry, I’m trying,” </em>she took a deep breath, <em>“I’m here, dude, okay, I’ve got you. I’m not right next to you, I’m sorry, but I’m here. I’ll stay up all night if I have to.”</em></p><p>Dick sobbed. His head hit the mirror as he collapsed in on himself.</p><p>“why can’t you be an unsupportive stereotype?” he wasn’t looking for an answer, it was just a thought.</p><p>
  <em>“what?”</em>
</p><p>Dick took a deep breath, “I… I don’t know what I’m doing anymore, Alex,” he took a deep breath, “I don’t think I can stay in the league.”</p><p>There was silence on the other end. Dick was waiting for the shoe to drop.</p><p>
  <em>“what do you mean?”</em>
</p><p>“I… I don’t know? I don’t…” Dick screwed his eyes shut, “I feel like I’ve never made a real decision in my life, and if I was to go back six years I don’t think I’d join the league. I think…” Dick took a deep breath, “I don’t know anymore, I don’t know what to think, but… Alex I think I need to leave, I can’t stay.”</p><p>Silence was still stretching on the other end.</p><p>“I think the only reason I joined and stayed is because I felt obligated to get to know you, then help you. It went from there.”</p><p>
  <em>“I’m sorry.”</em>
</p><p>“don’t be.”</p><p>
  <em>“how can I not be?”</em>
</p><p>Dick almost sobbed but he managed to hold it back, “Alex, why can’t you hate me? Why can’t you be like some stereotype? It makes this so much harder.”</p><p>
  <em>“do you want me to?”</em>
</p><p>“I don’t think I could live with myself if you hated me,” Dick said.</p><p><em>“then it’s a good thing I don’t,” </em>she took a deep breath, <em>“Dick you should do whatever you want to, need to, to become who you want to be in life. It doesn’t matter who’s side, what country, which friends, I’ll always be here.”</em></p><p>“and if I go back to the heroes?”</p><p>
  <em>“then you’ve got allies in the league in case you’re chasing some obscure assassin.”</em>
</p><p>Dick sobbed, unable to hold it back anymore.</p><p>“you realise you’re giving me permission to leave?”</p><p><em>“not really,” </em>Alex chuckled, <em>“you might want to ask Ra’s for permission to leave.”</em></p><p>“oh, Jesus, that’s gonna be an interesting conversation.”</p><p>
  <em>“your father got through it.”</em>
</p><p>Dick blinked. Staring forward.</p><p>How utterly, eternally, indescribably poetic.</p><p>Dick looked up, catching his shining blue eyes in the mirror.</p><p>“thank you,” Dick said.</p><p>
  <em>“for what?”</em>
</p><p>“for everything.”</p><p><em>“you don’t have to thank me, Dick,” </em>Alex said, <em>“everything is the easiest thing for me to give you. I have it in spades, seeing as you’ve given me so much of it.”</em></p><p>
  
</p><p>
  
</p><p>By the time Dick emerged from the bathroom, having cleaned out the gross-ness of his mouth, Artemis had set the sub on auto-pilot. He guessed that she’d probably sent word to Manta that they would be on their way to his sub, whether she’d told him why was another story. She was pacing back and forth in front of the stretcher Kaldur was lying on.</p><p>Once he walked down the hall she looked up, eyes still angry. However, everything else in her body language clearly portrayed her worry over Kaldur.</p><p>Dick took a deep breath and stood by the foot of the stretcher. He crossed his arms.</p><p>“I guess I’ll get through your questions one at a time,” Dick said, Artemis glared, “I left because of teenage angst, but also because my family history is a shit show. I went to the league of assassins because my dad used to work for Ra’s-“</p><p>“wait, that’s real?” Artemis frowned, “I thought that must have been a cover story,” Artemis was staring with narrowed and confused eyes.</p><p>Dick shook his head, “it’s real. Alex is also really my sister.”</p><p>Artemis stuck her tongue out in disgust, “I hate her.”</p><p>“hey,” Dick defended, “don’t be so judgmental.”</p><p>Artemis wrinkled her nose, “she’s full of herself, I met her when I was a kid.”</p><p>“okay, yeah, well,” Dick shrugged, “you do have a point.”</p><p>Artemis snorted. Dick almost felt hopeful.</p><p>“look…” Dick sighed and pinched the bride of his nose, “it’s kind hard to condense a six year apology into a couple minutes-“</p><p>“then I’ll shorten it,” Artemis said, “I don’t care about the assassin shit, okay, it’s bad but I’ll interrogate you about it later,” she grunted, “are you coming back?”</p><p>“I…” Dick hesitated, “I don’t know if I can, I didn’t leave on the best of terms. I didn’t lie to Kaldur about working with you guys, though. The league wants out of the light and… I want out of the league,” Dick sighed, “but I don’t think I can go back to the team as if nothing happened.”</p><p>Artemis sighed, “that is so typical.”</p><p>“what?”</p><p>Artemis rolled her eyes, “Dick, as annoyingly fun and sarcastic as you could be when you were a kid you were also still a fucking bat kid.” she poked him in the chest, “people can forgive and move on, you dummy.”</p><p>Dick blinked, “I’m a professional assassin, I think that goes a bit further than forgiving and moving on.”</p><p>“what do you think I was doing before Oliver took me in?” she dead panned.</p><p>“it’s a bit different.”</p><p>“how so?”</p><p>“you didn’t have a choice, your dad made you,” Dick frowned, “I had every chance at not being a horrible person and I threw in the towel just because my poor life was hard.”</p><p>Artemis sighed, seemingly giving up on fixing everything with one conversation.</p><p>“okay,” she rubbed her eyes, “everything that happened to Wally wasn’t your fault, I’m sorry for saying that.”</p><p>Dick blinked, “but it kinda is my fault.”</p><p>“don’t make me slap you again.”</p><p>Dick sighed, “okay, look, Kaldur is mentally comatose and we have to tell his father about that at some point, so…” he held out a hand, “truce? At least until Kaldur’s okay?”</p><p>Artemis shook her head with a smile, “you are ridiculous sometimes, boy wonder,” she shook his hand regardless, pretending not to notice Dick’s wince at the name.</p><p>“please don’t call me that.”</p><p>“no promises.”</p><p>Artemis seemed to realise something. She hit him again, this time a light playful punch to the shoulder.</p><p>“Jason’s alive?”</p><p>Dick blinked, “oh,” he smiled, “yeah.”</p><p>“what the <em>hell</em>?”</p><p>“I don’t know, Ra’s did it without talking to anyone else,” Dick said, “he told us the day after, Thalia was pissed. I volunteered to look after him.”</p><p>“is he gonna go back to Batman?”</p><p>“I don’t know.” Dick frowned, “he’s sorta merged with the family, and Batman kinda broke his trust by not saving him.”</p><p>“it wasn’t his fault,” Artemis defended. Although she didn’t know why, all considered Batman had to stop taking in kids without going to the right lengths to keep them from getting hurt.</p><p>Dick rose an eyebrow, “look, I’ve got my own issues with Bruce, let’s not get into that.”</p><p>“does that come under the terms of the truce?”</p><p>“sure,” Dick smirked.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Slade really didn’t know how Luthor had become so unfathomably full of himself over the years, he supposed it was a skill. Perhaps it was one of those rich white man things that he’d earned from his father without any effort.</p><p>But why was Luthor gunning for him to become an enforcer for the Light? Sure, he could do the job, with ease. but why would he? And why would Luthor want him?</p><p>He was walking down the hall from training, heading to his rooms, when he overheard Alex.</p><p>That was unsurprising. As much as Dick was the insomniac of the family, Alex was a close second.</p><p>What was surprising was what she was saying.</p><p>“you’re father got through it.”</p><p>Slade frowned, faltering as he passed her door. He stopped, staring at the door, the smallest gap allowing the sound to filter out.</p><p>“for what?”</p><p>Slade stepped back, leaning closer to the gap. He thought maybe he could hear the other voice on the line, just barely…</p><p>“you don’t have to thank me, Dick.” Alex said, “everything is the easiest thing for me to give you. I have it in spades, seeing as you’ve given me so much of it.”</p><p>Slade blinked. She was comforting Dick? What had happened? Last he’d heard was some old friend from his hero days had died. He’d figured Dick would have taken a hit from that, the guy had a soft spot. Although it was usually well guarded. Slade figured Dick would be able to slug it through the mission till he could be home, then they could all make sure he didn’t end up in a worse mental place than he already was.</p><p>However, it was starting to sound like there was a problem.</p><p>But also he shouldn’t be spying outside Alex’s room. He’d have to casually contact Dick himself some time…</p><p>And the door was swinging open and Alex was staring at him.</p><p>“uh,” Slade tried, “there is an explanation-“</p><p>“can it, unnecessary, I knew you were there.” Alex flicked her hand, “Luthor called you three days ago about becoming an enforcer, yeah?”</p><p>Slade frowned, “yes?”</p><p>“accept it.”</p><p>Slade blinked, “no.”</p><p>“accept it so you can go help Dick.”</p><p>“he’s a grown man, he knows what he’s doing, he can handle this.”</p><p>“and he’s also going through a whole lot of internal panic and emotional turmoil, so go help.”</p><p>Slade blinked, “you’re sure?’</p><p>“I’m his sister, I’m sure.”</p><p>Slade crossed his arms, “one condition.”</p><p>“what’s that?”</p><p>“got to bed.”</p><p>Alex sighed, dramatically dropping her head back.</p><p>“going once.”</p><p>Alex sulked, “fiiine.”</p><p>“didn’t hear you,” Slade leaned in.</p><p>“I will go to bed if you go help Dick.”</p><p>“deal,” Slade shook hands with her, “pleasure doing business with you.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>This was probably the most nerve wracking call Dick had ever made.</p><p>He considered, briefly, going back out into the cockpit and asking Artemis to do it. but he couldn’t. he was supposed to be guarding Kaldur, this was on him.</p><p>So he configured the device to make sure the encryption was strong and stood in front of the screen, automatically falling into parade rest, as he waited for Black Manta to accept the call.</p><p>It didn’t take long. He’d likely heard the reach ship had been attacked and was waiting for a call from Kaldur to debrief him. Dick felt momentary success for catching the flash of surprise in his eyes when Dick was on the other end of the call.</p><p>“Renegade,” he acknowledged.</p><p>“Manta,” Dick echoed the tone, “I’m sure you were made aware of the attack on the reach ship.”</p><p>“in passing,” he said, “I expect you intend to give me a full debrief.”</p><p>“that will depend,” Dick said, slowly, trying to figure out how best to word this, “would you like the bad or worst news first?”</p><p>Manta narrowed his eyes. He seemed to catch something in Dick’s expression and immediately turned interrogatory, “has something happened to Kaldur’Ahm?”</p><p>Dick took a deep breath, “Miss Martian was present for the attack,” he forced himself to hold Manta’s gaze, “Kaldur rushed ahead in an attempt to aid his troops, he found her and she… attacked his mind.”</p><p>“<em>what?</em>”</p><p>Dick swallowed, “he is…” he breathed out, “he’s currently… he appears in some state of mental catatonia.”</p><p>Manta was quiet. And then he was furious.</p><p>“we are on our way to your sub as we speak,” Dick explained.</p><p>“good,” manta said, his voice barely holding back the immense anger inside, “I will speak to you further on this once you arrive.”</p><p>“yes sir,” Dick said, and the screen turned black.</p><p>He was so dead.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Shockwaves</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>
  <strong>Shockwaves</strong>
</h1><h2>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932415" name="_Toc51932415"></a>Crossing Wires</strong>
</h2><p> </p><p> </p><p>Manta slammed the table, barehanded.</p><p>“How could you let this happen?”</p><p>Dick swallowed, took a deep breath.</p><p>“I underestimated the enemy,” Dick explained. There was no point covering his ass, making excuses, belittling the issue. Manta wasn’t going to take half-answers. That was something he liked about him when compared to the rest of the light. It was always straight to the point.</p><p>“I made it abundantly clear,” Manta hissed, “that if anything were to happen to Kaldur’Ahm-“</p><p>“it would be on me, yes, I remember,” Dick said, “and I will face the consequences for my slip in judgement.”</p><p>Manta raised a brow. He stepped around his desk. The two stood face to face, Dick did not waver.</p><p>“My son is almost dead,” Manta said, “because of you.”</p><p>Dick didn’t flinch.</p><p>“you will not defend yourself on this issue?” Manta was staring with narrowed eyes, mildly confused.</p><p>“I may be an assassin who makes his career in lying, but I am not a coward and I need not falsify my success in the name of erasing my failures,” Dick’s voice was smooth, he was forcing it that way. Manta could shoot him on the spot and he wouldn’t be surprised, but Dick refused to be scared.</p><p>Manta looked him up and down, “Ra’s Al Ghul trained you well,” he said, stepping back, “I would appreciate if more of my men showed the backbone you have.” He sat behind his desk, “this does not mean your mistake has been forgiven.”</p><p>“of course not,” Dick said, “but I intend to ensure it does not reoccur.”</p><p>“I will hold you to that,” Manta said.</p><p>Dick nodded, knowing a dismissal when he heard one.</p><p>He turned and strode out.</p><p>As he passed some troops in the hall he heard over the comms some slight chatter. He turned up the volume.</p><p>
  <em>“-ship docking, undergo security checks.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“affirmative.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“breaches undetected, enforcer is present, none others as stipulated.”</em>
</p><p>Enforcer? What?</p><p>Dick hurried over to the dock.</p><p>Was Sportsmaster here? Surely Manta wouldn’t let him on his ship when Kaldur had killed his daughter. Luthor said the light was looking for a new enforcer, had they already picked one since Dick had turned it down? Had they-</p><p>He turned the corner and Slade was stepping out of his ship.</p><p>They made eye contact at the same time. Slade cut off the trooper midsentence and strode over. Dick couldn’t quite believe his eyes.</p><p>“what are you do-“ he was cut off midway as Slade wrapped him in a hug. He didn’t fight it, instead accepting and reciprocating, not stopping the surprise from showing on his face when Slade pulled back, “what was that for?”</p><p>“anywhere we can talk privately?”</p><p>“uh- yeah, this way.”</p><p>Dick lead him to a storage room without cameras or microphones. He closed the door and flicked the light, there were shelves along the sides of the four walls, the empty space on the floor only about five foot square and several handled brooms and mops stuffed in one corner.</p><p>“okay, what’s wrong?”</p><p>Slade slipped his mask down, “I could ask you the same question.”</p><p>“what?”</p><p>“Alex made me accept the role as enforcer to come help you,” Slade said, “so what’s wrong?”</p><p>Dick blinked, “she did <em>what</em>?”</p><p>Slade shrugged. The movement was so strange from him, far too relaxed for him. Dick almost gaped.</p><p>Dick sighed, crossed his arms, “okay, look, Kaldur’s OOA.”</p><p>“what?” Slade frowned.</p><p>“Miss Martian knocked him out, hard. Artemis knows everything, which is fine, but it makes her fridge-y towards me. We’ve got a truce but she’s too emotional to truly let that work to its fullest.”</p><p>“the heroes?”</p><p>“recued the captives, but now the reach has gone public and the hall of justice is,” Dick shook his head and made a gesture with his hand, “gone. They’re running for cover. I don’t think Artemis has secure contact with them.”</p><p>“okay,” Slade said, “thanks for the professional debrief, I was asking about what’s wrong with you specifically.”</p><p>Dick rubbed at his face. The moment of closing his eyes made him realise just how tired they were. He really wished he could get some sleep.</p><p>He sighed, “look…”</p><p>“Dick,” Slade said, “I’m not great at the fuzzy caring stuff, so make this easier on the both of us.”</p><p>They stared at each other for a moment, waiting for one to crumble.</p><p>Slade sighed, “I told you before you came here that I thought it was a bad idea-“</p><p>“Slade, do not start this again.”</p><p>“you should have stayed at Nanda Parbat,” Slade said, “the mess with the court-“</p><p>“was just over two years ago,” Dick said, almost through gritted teeth.</p><p>“and have you had a full night’s sleep since?”</p><p>“because you have the lifestyle habits of a perfectly healthy person,” Dick scoffed.</p><p>“Dick,” Slade said, forcing him to pay attention with the strength in his voice, “you’re great at what you do, amazing. But you’re a good person,” Slade sighed, “really you were made for the hero gig, and the fact that that’s being dangled in front of you with your friends from the past? There’s no way it’s effecting you well.”</p><p>Dick glared, but he lost the effort rather quickly, “what did Alex tell you?”</p><p>“nothing, I’m smart enough to figure it out myself,” Slade said, “when this is over we’re having a real conversation about this, but for now, I’m here to help,” Slade said, “so, sure I’ll be taking orders from Manta, but say the word and I’m getting us out of here and back to Nanda Parbat so Ra’s can finish emancipating us from the light.”</p><p>“it’s not that easy.”</p><p>“you think I came here without plans? Ra’s wants you out of here, too,” he explained, “at any moment you could get hurt, and none of us like that.”</p><p>“I can handle myself.”</p><p>“you turned down Luthor’s offer to become an enforcer, the light doesn’t take no for an answer,” Slade said, “they’ve started digging up your history, the second they find out who you used to be your done for.”</p><p>“how do you know?”</p><p>“because people have been snooping around Kabul asking questions and attempting to gain Ra’s approval to enter the city.”</p><p>“outsiders visiting Nanda Parbat? that’s unlikely.”</p><p>“yes, but the longer it takes the light to gain access the more likely they’ll take drastic measures to get in, and then we’re all screwed.”</p><p>Dick sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose, “oh, god.”</p><p>“yeah. So no more sense of duty sticking around till the mission’s done, weigh the options. Do you really think the heroes have a chance at winning this?”</p><p>Dick stuttered, raising his eyebrows, “that’s not an easily answered question.”</p><p>“well, I’ll give you some time to answer it,” Slade said, “but if the answer is no then we’re out of here, got it?”</p><p>Dick crossed his arms, “what are you, my father?”</p><p>“closest thing to it, unless you’d prefer Ra’s?”</p><p>Dick sighed, “okay, whatever, fine,” he pointed a finger in Slade’s face, “but I’m not just going to leave Kaldur to his mental catatonia, I’m going to try and fix this.”</p><p>“of course,” Slade said, with a roll of his eyes, “I wouldn’t put it past you to pile on more responsibility you are not accountable for.”</p><p>Dick turned to the door, suppressing a groan, “you can pretend to be my therapist another time.”</p><p>“or you could see a real one.”</p><p>Dick pulled the door open and walked out, “coming?”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Artemis could only wonder how it had all gone so wrong. One small thing and suddenly everything was falling apart.</p><p>Although, Kaldur lying comatose wasn’t particularly small.</p><p>She almost flinched at the sight of him, lying on the bed, his father standing above him like he was some truly kind parental figure and not a manipulative militaristic jack ass.</p><p>And a man in a hood at the corner of the room.</p><p>“This is Psimon,” Manta introduced, and Psimon dropped his hood, “he is here to psychically repair the shattered mind of my son.”</p><p>Artemis needed all of her acting skills, because now she was beginning to freak out, “he can do that?”</p><p>“Indeed, my dear, I’ll dig right in and move about piecing his entire mental life back together. By the time I’m done I’ll know Kaldur’Ahm better than he knows himself.”</p><p>“perfect,” Artemis said.</p><p>
  <em>Yeah, perfect.</em>
</p><p>“Tigress, you’ll be staying close by, on guard,” Manta explained, “Renegade will join you shortly, I will take no shortcuts when it comes to my son’s protection.” He turned to Psimon, “when can you begin?”</p><p>“I need to focus. Set my own mental house in order before I enter his ruins.”</p><p>Manta nodded and stepped away from the bed, as he passed Artemis he laid a hand on her shoulder.</p><p>“my son never spoke of his feelings, but his words could not hide how much he cared for you Tigress.”</p><p>“I don’t speak about my feelings either. Not with words.”</p><p>“your actions define you, I respect that,” he said, dropping his hand, “so you’ll be glad to know I will take action against the Martian Witch that did this to our beloved Kaldur’Ahm.”</p><p>
  <em>Great, now I have to rescue Miss Martian, too.</em>
</p><p>Artemis didn’t have to wait long for Dick to show up. He was in full gear, but even she caught the minute amount of surprise he let slip when he saw Psimon. Artemis hoped she conveyed all of her panic when he looked at her.</p><p>And it didn’t help that they couldn’t put their heads together to figure out what the hell to do.</p><p>“ah, Renegade,” Psimon greeted, “what wonderful timing to witness very little.” He turned to Kaldur, “alright, I’m ready, let’s see what the weather’s like in there.”</p><p>Artemis was out of time. She snuck out a device from her belt and sent a dart at Psimon’s neck. He slapped it as if it were an insect.</p><p>“the Martian really did a number on you, believe me I know how it feels, “ he leant forward, speaking as if Kaldur could actually hear him, “but fear not we’ll have you up and running in… no… time…”</p><p>Dick gave Artemis a look, she shrugged the tiniest bit.</p><p>“something’s… wrong… my mind...” he frowned, stumbling as he tried to stand, “clouding over…”</p><p>Artemis was about to step forward and feign worry when her head started hurting, she stumbled back. Dick’s hand hovered by his temple.</p><p>“<em>you!</em>”</p><p>Psimon sent Artemis hurtling at the wall. Dick stepped forward, drawing his sword, but Psimon wrenched it from his hand. He pounded Artemis against the wall, pushing Dick against the other with his sword against his neck, Dick grabbed the hilt in an attempt at keeping it away.</p><p>
  <em>“you drugged me but why?!”</em>
</p><p>Artemis was hovering in the air, back arching as she held back screams.</p><p>
  <em>“Psimon says, reveal your secret!”</em>
</p><p>Artemis let out a yelp as Psimon dug deep into her mind.</p><p><em>“Artemis,” </em>his eyes widened as his voice played through her mind. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Dick slowly struggling against Psimon’s mental attacks, reaching for something in his belt, <em>“you’re Artemis, and the drug…” </em>he stumbled, <em>“an invention of your father Sports Master, a single dose simulates Catatonia for weeks… but you miscalculated how quickly it..” </em>he stumbled again. If Artemis could hold up just a bit longer… Dick had almost reached his belt… <em>“takes…”</em></p><p>The door burst open, Black Manta on the threshold. Dick finally reached his belt and threw a knife, it landed square in Psimon’s shoulder. His legs shuddered and he collapsed on the ground, Artemis and Dick fell with him, breathing heavily.</p><p>“what happened?!” Manta demanded, staring at Psimon’s dull dead stare.</p><p>“I don’t know, he just went… berserk,” Artemis got out, trying to catch her breath.</p><p>Dick got himself to his feet, “is it possible Miss Martian left some kind of… telepathic virus in Kaldur’s mind?”</p><p>“if she did then any telepath we might employ will only suffer the same fate.”</p><p>“there’s still one telepath who can help us,” Artemis said, finally getting to her feet, “Miss Martian herself, it’s our only recourse. Send me to the mainland, I’ll bring back the Martian and we’ll force her to cure Kaldur.”</p><p>“yes,” manta agreed, “yes, of course. But she is dangerous. Kaldur would never forgive me if I sent you to face her alone.”</p><p>“I’ll go with her,” Dick offered, “we’ll take a squad of troopers.”</p><p>“no,” manta said, “you’ll take Death Stroke.” He turned to the door, and there he was, Slade Wilson in the flesh.</p><p>“perfect,” Artemis said.</p><p>
  <em>Perfect.</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They got to the ship without any troubles, once they were seated in the cockpit she turned to Death Stroke.</p><p>“we’ll keep this simple, we can track zeta energy and find out where she is. We don’t have time to waste if she’s with anyone, so we leave them alive-“</p><p>“don’t bother with the excuses, I know we’re not going to kill any of your hero buddies,” Slade said.</p><p>Artemis turned to Dick, “you told him?”</p><p>“I figured it out myself,” Slade scowled, “it’s real obvious.”</p><p>“okay,” Artemis sighed, “well, we get M’Gann and we get back, let’s not make this any more intricate than it needs to be.”</p><p>“you don’t need to give me orders, <em>Tigress</em>,” Slade said, and his eye roll was audible, “I’ve been in this game since before your heart started beating.”</p><p>“thank you,” Artemis smirked, “for the reminder of your huge ego.”</p><p>Dick snickered.</p><p>“something wrong, ex-boy wonder?”</p><p>Dick gave her a face that she returned.</p><p>“if you guys are gonna spend this whole thing arguing, it’s not gonna go so smooth,” Dick reasoned with a shrug.</p><p>“you say that like you and Alex don’t argue on missions,” Slade said.</p><p>“we’re siblings, it’s charming,” Dick defended, “you’re a fifty year old man, it’s just childish.”</p><p>“I am not that old,” Slade said.</p><p>“no,” Dick smiled and leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head, “you’re older.”</p><p>Artemis had no idea what to do in this situation. It was like going to a friend’s house and they disappear for something and you’re stuck with their sibling and parent. Except, she had the added awkwardness of… well, she couldn’t put a word to it but it didn’t help that the two people in front of her were trained killers acting like they were from the brady bunch.</p><p>“yeah, well,” Slade grumbled, “you and the rest of you are so ridiculous I’m pretty sure most of my grey hair-“</p><p>“was already there when I showed up?” Dick smirked, looking over, “you gonna blame it all on Thalia and Alex?”</p><p>“well your father was a pain in my ass, too, Junior,” he grumbled.</p><p>Artemis sighed, leaned her head on one hand, “is it always like this at the league?”</p><p>“no, it’s more spread out through the palace,” Dick said, “although Thalia and Slade have a tendency to accidentally run into each other and create arguments.”</p><p>“excuse me?” Slade blinked, “now wait-“</p><p>“we all remember last Christmas, Slade,” Dick snickered.</p><p>Slade pointed a finger, “that was Thalia’s fault, fair and square.”</p><p>Yes, Artemis had no idea how to deal with these two.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>M’Gann really wished she didn’t have to have this conversation, not yet at least. She wasn’t ready.</p><p>On the other hand, time was an illusion that heals all wounds and there was no better time than the present.</p><p>“I can’t wait any longer, I have too many questions,” L’Gann sighed, turning to her, “why have you been avoiding me? Why won’t you return my calls? What’s going on between you and Connor?”</p><p>“nothing!” M’Gann denied, “I mean, not what you’re thinking.” She tried to offer some form of comfort, cupping L’Gaan’s face with her hand.</p><p>“then what angelfish?” said L’Gann who, despite trying to be angry, sunk into her touch, “please?”</p><p>M’Gann didn’t know how to talk about this, and she was semi-lucky that they were interrupted. Although, the cause of the interruption was less than great.</p><p>“we hate to interrupt such poignant interspecies romance,” came a voice from above. M’Gann looked up, finding three people standing atop the wrecked cars of the junk field as if they were towering above on a parapet. The speaker was standing with his hands rested on a sword across his shoulders, M’Gann recognised the two-toned uniform- Death Stroke.</p><p>“we have pressing business with the Martian,” came one of the accompanying people, and this one was recognisable by voice alone. M’Gann looked to the assassin standing not far off Death Stroke’s right, his hand resting on the pommel of his sword, the sharp edge gleaming, the tip dug into the metal by his foot.</p><p>Dick. Richard. Robin. Renegade.</p><p>M’Gann didn’t know what she thought of him, standing above her like a hooded omen of death.</p><p>Artemis- Tigress, the mask seemed so strange now that it was tied with blonde hair- was there as well, one hand on a hip, the other holding onto a crossbow.</p><p>L’Gann went on the immediate defensive, stalking forward to attack. Dick twisted his hand and the sunlight shot through the air, M’Gann flinched, so did L’Gann, and the assassins leapt into the offensive.</p><p>Death Stroke went straight for L’Gann, Renegade backing him up. M’Gann knew he could handle himself so she flew up to keep above the fight. she batted away a dart from Artemis’ crossbow.</p><p><em>“Artemis? That’s you right?” </em>what the hell was going on?</p><p>
  <em>“it’s me M’Gann, and I’m here to kidnap you.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“what?”</em>
</p><p>Rapid fire crossbow bolts came flying at her.</p><p>Artemis quickly filled her in and told her to make it look good. L’Gann was almost out of commission and Dick showed up in M’gann’s peripheral. She sent several cars at Artemis to keep her busy then turned to Dick.</p><p><em>“long time no see.”</em> She sent a few projectiles that he dodged easily, he threw back his own ninja stars.</p><p><em>“yeah, that’s more my fault than anyone’s,” </em>he answered, <em>“I’m guessing Artemis filled you in?”</em></p><p>M’Gann almost smiled as she watched Dick move between everything she was throwing at him. he still moved like he used to; a crazed lunatic acrobat with no care for self-preservation.</p><p><em>“I have so many questions for you,” </em>M’Gann said, pretending she couldn’t see Artemis sneaking up on her.</p><p>
  <em>“make a list, hopefully you’ll have a chance to get through them all some time.”</em>
</p><p>As Artemis shot another dart M’Gann watched it in the corner of her eye, she dodged last second. As she hesitated Dick made his attack. She was close to the ground, it just took an awkward tackle and he clipped on the inhibitor collar.</p><p>And then she was unconscious.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Neptune’s beard let go of me!”</p><p>Barbara and Conner fought to keep L’Gann on the bed, his struggling was incessant.</p><p>“I’ve gotta save M’Gann!”</p><p>“L’Gann calm down, there’s nothing you can do for her in your condition,” Barbara ordered.</p><p>“then what about him! why isn’t he rescuing her?” L’Gann scowled at Conner, “I know you dumped her, but do you really hate her that much?!”</p><p>“you have no idea what I feel for her!” Conner shot back. Barbara knew usually he could take the comment, but his nerves were frayed and his control on his anger was coming apart with it.</p><p>“you’re right,” L’Gann scowled, and Barbara tightened her grip on his shoulder, “because I would never abandon her to Kaldur and his flunkies, cause that’s who took her!” he hissed, “Aqua-traitor and his ninja-cow Tigress!”</p><p>“<em>enough</em>!” Barbara cut in, and once the two boys saw her face they figured it was time to shut up and listen. She sighed, “I’m not supposed to tell anyone, but Aqualad is not a traitor.”</p><p>“what are you talking about? He killed Artemis!”</p><p>“no, he didn’t,” Barbara said, bracing herself for this conversation. Conner had crossed his arms and was staring at her with fury, “Aqualad has been on a deep cover mission for months,” she said, sitting down on the chair next to the head of the bed, “infiltrating Black Manta’s troops, The Light and The Reach. We faked Artemis’ death.” She rubbed at her eyes, “she’s alive. In fact, Artemis is Tigress. If she kidnapped Miss Martian there has to be a good reason.”</p><p>“why am I only hearing this now?” L’Gann said, eyes narrowing, “I mourned Artemis.” His hands turned to fists, “Neptune’s beard, I tried to tear Kaldur limb from limb, <em>you should have told me.</em>”</p><p>Barbara opened her mouth to explain, Conner stepped in.</p><p>“no.” he looked between the occupants of the room, “Batgirl’s our leader, we put our trust in her, I’m sure she didn’t keep this from us, from <em>all </em>of us, without having reasons.”</p><p>“look,” she stood, “we will figure this out, together.” She placed a hand on L’Gaan’s shoulder, “in the meantime, get some rest.”</p><p>She and Conner left the room silently.</p><p>“thanks for backing me up in there,” she sighed.</p><p>“you don’t eave a guy a lot of options.” Conner turned on her, “you’ve no idea what your secrets have done to us.”</p><p>“what does-“</p><p>“M’Gann believed Kaldur had killed Artemis,” Conner spoke through gritted teeth, “so when she found him on the Reach ship, <em>she fried his brain</em>.”</p><p>Barbara couldn’t get the questions out, Conner kept talking.</p><p>“that’s gotta be why Artemis grabbed her, to try and save Kaldur’s broken mind, but M’Gann doesn’t know how to do that, so Manta may just kill her and kill Tigress if she tries to save her and then we’ve lost all three of them because <em>you </em>though it was a bad idea to share.”</p><p>He turned to walk away, Barbara stared at his back in shock.</p><p>“how long has M’Gann been destroying minds?” she asked.</p><p>Conner froze.</p><p>“how long have you known?”</p><p>Conner turned again, “don’t make this about that.”</p><p>“then don’t make this about me keeping secrets from the team,” Barbara said, taking a few steps towards Conner, “don’t take this out on me just cause you’re too angry to realise that the only way to keep their cover safe was to make this a need-to-know situation.”</p><p>“we’re a team-“</p><p>“and are you going to stand there and tell me that this team would be able to sell Kaldur’s act? Are you telling me you really believe that Kaldur would be safe behind enemy lines if everyone knew?”</p><p>“so only one person could know, then? You alone would be enough to clean up all the mess?”</p><p>“Wally knows,” Barbara explained.</p><p>“and I suppose Batman knows, too?”</p><p>“no,” she said. Conner didn’t mask his surprise.</p><p>He shook his head in disbelief, then turned away expecting the conversation was over.</p><p>This was the moment. She had to tell him now.</p><p>“Dick is Renegade.”</p><p>Well, she probably could’ve worded it better than that.</p><p>“what?”</p><p>He turned and stalked right up to her, shock written across his face.</p><p>“Robin,” she said, “is alive. He is currently operating under the name Renegade as…” she took a deep breath, “Thalia Al Ghul’s personal guard. that’s the other weird ninja person that’s been helping Kaldur.”</p><p>Conner was staring, incapable of figuring out words.</p><p>“how long have you known this?”</p><p>“since the mountain was blown up.”</p><p>He let out a deep breath, pinched the bridge of his nose.</p><p>“I already told Wally.”</p><p>“good,” he said, “then I’ll tell Zatanna and Raquel, maybe Roy if I can get a hold of him.”</p><p>“great, just get yourself a microphone, announce it to the world,” Barbara glared.</p><p>“he’s been gone for six years, what else do you want me to do!” Conner waved his arms about in anger.</p><p>“we don’t know enough about the situation,” Batgirl stared with narrowed eyes, “for all we know the light doesn’t know who he is, we let too many know it could slip and we can all but add him to the list of people in danger.”</p><p>“yeah? Well, I think he can handle himself,” Conner said, “god knows that’s the impression he gave us when he fucked off six years ago.” He marched down the hall, “but they deserve to know.”</p><p>Batgirl glared at his back as he left.</p><p>She was losing control of this operation.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>M’Gann awoke to a horrible sight.</p><p>Manta stood above her, arms crossed. Tigress was mirroring that position.</p><p>“welcome aboard, Martian,” Manta acknowledged, “let me make this situation perfectly clear…”</p><p>She lifted her head to get a look around the room. Renegade was standing against the far wall.</p><p>“you are here to psychically repair the damage you have done to my son’s mind. This inhibitor collar,” he gripped it, “negates all your Martian abilities. In a moment we will selectively reinstate your telepathic power only, but before we do that understand,” he looked up at the ceiling where a camera was watching, “Deathstroke is watching at all times from beyond the range of your psychic power, if he perceives even a hint of trouble he will press a button which will activate a substantial explosive charge in your collar,” he said, “so don’t lose your head.”</p><p>M’Gann scowled and wrenched herself from his grip.</p><p>“Deathstroke, activate her telepathy,” he ordered, and M’Gann heard a low whine as the collar changed functions. He marched over to the door and opened it, “now, save my son or die.”</p><p>“you heard the man, get to it,” Artemis ordered, shoving her around to face Kaldur.</p><p><em>“Artemis…”</em> M’Gann frowned down at Kaldur, eyes glancing between him and Renegade against the wall, <em>“what should I… do?</em></p><p><em>“fix Kaldur, the four of us will figure out the rest later,”</em> Artemis stood ram rod straight behind her.</p><p><em>“I’m not worried about the rest, but honestly I’m not sure if I can fix Kaldur,”</em> she turned her head to look at Artemis, <em>“breaking a mind is easy, restoring one? May not even be possible. And what if I make things worse? My mere presence in his mind could be perceived as another attack…”</em></p><p>Artemis was quiet.</p><p>
  <em>“the take me in with you.”</em>
</p><p>M’Gann blinked. Artemis seemed to be waiting for someone to say something, she looked at Renegade who was staring at the two of them with a lot of annoyance.</p><p>
  <em>“uh… is Dick in on this conversation?”</em>
</p><p><em>“you… wanted him in?” </em>M’Gann frowned.</p><p>
  <em>“yes, he’s on our side.”</em>
</p><p>M’Gann frowned, but she thought on Kaldur’s memories that she’d been hit with…</p><p>He… not only trusted Dick but…</p><p>
  <em>“link established, Dick can you hear us?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“loud and clear.”</em>
</p><p>His mental presence was so strange. She knew it entirely, those months they’d spent as a team… hell, it had almost been a year, they’d eventually all gotten so used to being mentally connected it was almost a constant around the mountain. She knew Dick’s mind just like she knew the rest of the team.</p><p>And yet this was the third time she’d touched it in six years. It was so strange. She didn’t know how she felt about his disappearance yet. She figured she probably never would.</p><p>
  <em>“what’s our plan?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“M’gann’s gonna take us into Kaldur’s mind to help her fix it.”</em>
</p><p><em>“right,”</em> he said, voice sceptical, <em>“because we know how to do that.”</em></p><p><em>“I don’t either,” </em>M’Gann said, smiling slightly, it dropped quickly, <em>“but if I take you in there… I could lose you to.”</em></p><p><em>“M’Gann we don’t really have a choice,” </em>Dick said.</p><p><em>“no…” </em>she sighed, turning back to Kaldur, <em>“I suppose we don’t.”</em></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Dick wasn’t sure if he liked this plan. Going into Kaldur’s mind sounded a bit like asking for trouble. He was no psychologist but even he knew that the brain was a bit of an intricate specimen, and if you so much as nicked the wrong spot you could change a person entirely.</p><p>Also he was worried about the fact it was an extremely vulnerable place to be. M’Gann basically had free range of his unshielded mind, what if she did to him what she did to Kaldur?</p><p>She probably wouldn’t, she had no reason to. But also, he was an asshole who’d probably deserve it. at least more than Kaldur did.</p><p>But there was a chance it would help, so here they were.</p><p>He opened his eyes to ocean, water stretching as far as the eye could see. He choked.</p><p>It was cold, it was dark, it was-</p><p>
  <em>There was a sheen of green on everything.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He could feel it dripping down the back of his throat. Maybe it was slightly thicker than water, he couldn’t tell. It was seeping in through his nose. His ears felt like they were being pressed in on. He wouldn’t breathe in, he refused to breathe in, he couldn’t, he couldn’t, he couldn’t-</em>
</p><p>“DICK!”</p><p>Someone was shaking his shoulders. His hands were grasping at his neck.</p><p>
  <em>His body was raw with injuries, he was bleeding, he was dying, not even his healing factor could stop this. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>His sister had lowered him in, she’d said something to him, what did she say? He could have sworn he’d heard it but he couldn’t remember-</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He couldn’t remember, he couldn’t remember, he couldn’t remember. He knew that was a common side effect, memory loss. He tried to grip on, he knew he should be thinking of everything important while he still could, clawing at the slowly receding memories in the back of his mind.</em>
</p><p>“DICK!”</p><p>The sounds were filtering in- had someone pulled him out? He wasn’t ready, everything still hurt.</p><p>“Dick, this isn’t real!”</p><p>“Dick, you have to breathe, you’re not actually underwater.”</p><p>Was that… Artemis? No, impossible.</p><p>“If you allow this place to hurt you it could cause real damage!”</p><p>M’Gann?</p><p>Wait, but-</p><p>A clarity washed over his mind, someone was prying around in his thoughts.</p><p>
  <em>They were closing in, black clad and shining, claws outstretched, dripping in his blood. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“NO!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Dick pushed it away, imagining the mountains around Kabul, mounds of earth rising up out of the ground in a wall on all sides. he imagined Nanda Perbat, the walls of the palace. He imagined his window in his bedroom. He imagined him closing it, shutting it, locking it, he leant against it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Isabel was clawing at it, screeching, trying to get in. he couldn’t let her in-</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Yes he could, it was Isabel, he trusted her with his life.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Dick, breathe, it’s okay.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>That wasn’t Isabel, that was-</em>
</p><p>
  <em>M’Gann. That was… M’Gann?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He turned to the window, the moment of confusion was enough. the glass disappeared, the night sky outside, stars twinkling-</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Dick!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He leant out the window, staring.</em>
</p><p>“Dick, come on breathe!”</p><p>He opened his eyes and coughed, choked, breathing deeply hunched over himself.</p><p>Artemis sighed with relief, “oh, thank god.”</p><p>Dick stood upright, still breathing heavily, “what the hell-“</p><p>“you panicked,” M’Gann explained, “Kaldur’s mind presents itself as…” she stared around, “Atlantis. In ruins.”</p><p>“right,” Dick said, looking around at the mess, “I don’t do great with getting shoved under water.”</p><p>“we’re literally inside a submarine, right now,” Artemis said.</p><p>“I mean when I’m physically in water,” Dick sighed.</p><p>“is it cause of that weird green stuff?” M’Gann frowned, “what was that?”</p><p>Dick glared but she didn’t seem to take it as an answer.</p><p>“you don’t get benefit of the doubt anymore, if you’re going to freak out like that again you may as well wait in the real world.”</p><p>“I’ll be fine, I just didn’t realise we’d be shoved into a mental scape of endless water wasteland,” he said.</p><p>“wait, weird green stuff?” Artemis frowned, staring at him, “like…” she glanced between he two, then leaned forward conspiratorially, “did they put you in the Lazarus pits?”</p><p>“the what?”</p><p>“not important,” Dick interrupted, “we’re supposed to be helping Kaldur, remember?”</p><p>“right, yeah,” Artemis sighed, and Dick finally realised that she actually was Artemis. Inside the mind scape she’d automatically been switched into her old uniform. He checked his own clothes, he better not be in the robin suit.</p><p>He was wearing what he’d been wearing when he and Kaldur had that mission to Happy Harbor, sans the jacket. He rubbed at his neck absentmindedly, feeling the cold movement of the water currents against his throat. It had been a while since he’d had the vulnerable feeling that came with the old memory of Cobb slitting his throat- although that was likely because he’d covered it up and ignored it, expecting it to go away.</p><p>Alex had given him extra armouring, so long ago, to stop him from freezing up. She’d said they’d sit down and he’d tell her everything and sort it out. He had avoided it. it was creeping up on him now, old memories clawing to be noticed.</p><p>“okay,” Dick said, “so how do we do this?”</p><p>As if on cue they were presented with another problem.</p><p>They were all thrown back against a stray piece of crumbling wall, blue lights coming at them like projectiles.</p><p>Dick grit his teeth, reaching for a weapon, he had nothing on him.</p><p>“not real, not real.” He heard Artemis muttering it to herself as she held her arms in front of her, closed her eyes. The darts of magic went right through her.</p><p>Dick took a deep breath.</p><p>
  <em>Not real, not real, not real.</em>
</p><p>A dart flung itself at him, right for his head.</p><p>
  <em>Not real, not real, not real.</em>
</p><p>It went straight through his neck, disappearing into the air.</p><p>He let out a breath of relief. Artemis was still focusing, darts flying through her, but her eyes were closed. Dick looked behind him, M’Gann was curled in a ball against the wall, bombarded by the magical assault.</p><p>He swam over, paying little heed to the fake attacker, but it was likely one of Kaldur’s old Atlantean friends.</p><p>“M’Gann, hey,” he rested a hand on her elbow, she winced away, “it’s not real remember.”</p><p>She wasn’t listening, she refused to listen.</p><p>“Tula!” Artemis tried reasoning with her, she reached out but her hand went straight through her, “right, you’re not real either.”</p><p>Dick looked between her and M’Gann.</p><p>“let’s find Kaldur, maybe he can fix this.”</p><p>“agreed,” Artemis said, swimming off. Dick followed.</p><p>They came upon a gazebo of some kind, a circular structure with a roof held by columns. Dick figured it would probably look quite beautiful if it wasn’t falling apart.</p><p>Kaldur was sitting on a bench, hunched over facing away from them. Dick and Artemis swam over. She was staring in confusion and possibly shock, trying to figure out how to handle this. Dick put his hand on Kaldur’s shoulder and turned him around-</p><p>He had no face. It was… gone.</p><p>Dick blinked, staring, “Kaldur?”</p><p>“Kai ego, Kai ego.”</p><p>Dick knew the voice was Kaldur’s, but it was coming from everywhere. It was sad, empty.</p><p>“what’s he saying?” Artemis asked. Clearly M’Gann didn’t know the language because it wasn’t translating.</p><p>“uh,” Dick frowned, “I don’t know a lot of ancient Greek, which is basically what Atlantean is, but special, but I think he’s saying-“</p><p>
  <em>“I am, I am alone. What is left of Kaldur’Ahm? Sand and water.”</em>
</p><p>Dick swallowed, Artemis looked at him for a translation, “uh…”</p><p>“look, the most I know is from when I snuck into a friend’s freshman Greek class, I’m lookin’ at you.”</p><p>“he’s, uh… not coping,” Dick said. He took Kaldur by the shoulders, kneeling in front of him, “Kaldur, it’s us. It’s Dick and Artemis, can you hear us?”</p><p>“Lisomen Artemis, lisomen,” he whispered, “Dick? Ochi, einai fygei.”</p><p>Artemis looked at him.</p><p>“uh… I think he said please somewhere in there, and no.”</p><p>
  <em>“no, they are not here, and I… I am alone.”</em>
</p><p>“no,” Dick said, not translating for Artemis, “no, we’re here, Kal, okay?” Dick rubbed at his shoulders, hoping maybe he could break through, “we’re here to help.”</p><p><em>“no help, ruins,” </em>he said, <em>“ruins.”</em></p><p>The current picked up, as if it were wind. Pieces of the debris went flying, a whirlpool formed, dark and pulled at everything. An endless depth grabbing on to everything and heaving it into the shadows.</p><p>Dick stared at it, Kaldur was pulled in, he grabbed his wrist but the whirlpool was strong. His feet slipped, Artemis grabbed on as well, the two hooked their feet behind the bench legs for leverage and held on tight to their friend.</p><p>“no, we’re here and we’ll help you, please, Kaldur!” Artemis cried out, trying to pull him away from the whirlpool. Between the two of them the best they could muster was stopping him from getting closer to it.</p><p>
  <em>“no, I am alone.”</em>
</p><p>“you’re not alone!” Dick shouted, trying to get a better grip without slipping, “Kaldur please, we care for you, don’t just let go without trying to fix things, let us help!”</p><p>“there’s a word isn’t there?” Artemis grunted, “together?”</p><p>Dick knew that one, “Simbiosi!”</p><p>Kaldur’s blank face moved to look at them, or maybe Dick was imagining things.</p><p>“together! Help us save you!” Dick yelled.</p><p>“Simbiosi!” Artemis repeated.</p><p>The whirlpool dissipated, Kaldur fell, they caught him as best they could and helped him to his feet finding his face exactly where it should be once more. Dick didn’t stop himself from wrapping his friend in a hug, Artemis was quick to follow.</p><p>Once they returned to M’Gann Tula disappeared with a wave of the hand. Kaldur still seemed a little frozen and shaky but M’Gann didn’t notice. She wrapped him in a hug as well.</p><p>“I’m so sorry,” she sobbed.</p><p>Kaldur just looked happy to see one of his friends again, he closed his eyes and buried his head into the hug.</p><p>“I don’t… I don’t know how to fix this,” M’Gann said.</p><p>Artemis took hold of Kaldur’s hand, “together.”</p><p>Kaldur looked between her and Dick. He grabbed Kaldur’s other hand, “Simbiosi.”</p><p>Kaldur blinked, staring at Dick’s eyes. He frowned.</p><p>“it’s…” he seemed like he was trying to find the words, he looked at everything around him like it was an unknown world. Or rather a world he knew but no longer recognised, “ruins.”</p><p>“we can change that,” M’Gann said, seemingly sad that she couldn’t hold someone’s hand as well. She took Artemis’ free one, “see?”</p><p>She turned to a column her eyes glowed and she fit it with another piece, coming together like a jigsaw puzzle that blurred at the edges till they amalgamated into one.</p><p>Kaldur looked at them all, finishing on Dick. He nodded.</p><p>“we will…” he frowned, “try.”</p><p>Dick smiled, “itan edo.”</p><p>Kaldur blinked, staring at him in surprise. M’Gann looked equally confused.</p><p>“I know…” Dick made a so-so gesture with his hand, “a tiny bit of Atlantean.”</p><p>“they teach that at Nanda Parbat?” Artemis smiled.</p><p>“you can learn a lot of things if you can find the teacher,” Dick said.</p><p>“it’s just a cult of assassins ready to tutor you,” Artemis snorted.</p><p>Dick imagined the city, the bustling crowds, the coffee shop he and Alex liked to visit. Artemis had no idea what Nanda Parbat was really like.</p><p>Nevertheless, Kaldur cracked a smile. At either the joke or the fact that Artemis was amused by it.</p><p>There was a chance here, a possibility that this could work-</p><p>“renegade.”</p><p>Dick forced himself not to startle, but his head still turned to Manta.</p><p>“sorry,” Dick said, “feels like I’ve been standing here for hours.”</p><p>“you have,” Manta said, eyebrow raised, “you and Artemis should have gone on breaks by now.”</p><p>Dick let out a deep breath and stood from the wall, his muscles were aching.</p><p>“I suppose the quiet is nice for thinking.”</p><p>Artemis broke form her daze, “don’t do that too often, you’ll hurt yourself,” she said, dead pan.</p><p>Dick stared with insulted raised eyebrows. M’gann’s eyes lost their glow as she receded from Kaldur’s mind.</p><p>“report your progress,” Manta ordered.</p><p>“there is… a lot to do.”</p><p>“how long?”</p><p>“weeks, months,” M’Gann sighed.</p><p>“now, listen here, witch-“</p><p>“father.”</p><p>The occupants of the room turned their heads to Kaldur.</p><p>“father?”</p><p>Well, Dick could commend him on his acting skills, even when mentally compromised he could sell it.</p><p>“Kaldur,” manta rushed to the head of the bed, resting a hand on his shoulder.</p><p>“he’s still healing,” M’Gann said.</p><p>“but it is a start.” Manta stood again, “keep it up.”</p><p>As he turned and walked out he looked back at Dick.</p><p>“Renegade, take a break, you won’t be any help too tired to move,” he ordered. Something about his tone made it obvious he meant for Dick to leave the room that moment, following him out. He did so.</p><p>“I am sure you can guess my intentions once the Martian witch is done saving my son,” Manta said.</p><p>“you kill her?”</p><p>“no,” Manta said, “you kill her and leave her body somewhere the heroes will find it.”</p><p>“perfect,” Dick said.</p><p>
  <em>Perfect.</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Dick stared at his reflection in the mirror.</p><p>He needed a haircut.</p><p>He let out a breath, turned off the tap and leant against the sink.</p><p>He activated his electrum. He saw his yellow and green eyes in the mirror. He used to hate them, for a long time. he didn’t like looking at mirrors while it was activated because he knew he looked like a monster. But now…</p><p>He stared at it, waiting for the repulsion. Waiting for a hallucination of Cobb staring back at him.</p><p>He didn’t get it. there was a deep blankness, nothing. He stared at his eyes, they were just his eyes. Not Cobb’s or any of the other Talon’s. not the crazed aftereffects of a maniac coming out of the pits. Just his eyes. his.</p><p>And when they appeared he could feel the electrum thrumming, feel it giving him more energy than he knew what to do with. His senses heightened, he could hear every creak in the ship, smell the bare traces of dust, see every spec.</p><p>He breathed out and let it go. He missed it immediately, in the way a runner misses the track, the way a wrestler misses the hit, a junkie misses the adrenaline, a vigilante misses the… purpose.</p><p>The yellow and green faded to blue. He had feelings towards that colour.</p><p>They were his mother’s eyes. They were what he got from her that wasn’t an assassin cult’s legacy. They were what everyone always used to compliment him on.</p><p>Dick Grayson, Robin, the boy wonder had blue eyes. Renegade had yellow, even though he didn’t always let it show. The green tinge was from Renegade, his connections and his mistakes.</p><p>He was both of those people. He was neither of those people.</p><p>No.</p><p>He <em>was </em>those people.</p><p>They were pitstops of his life. He had been Dick Grayson, circus boy. He had been Dick Grayson, Boy Wonder. He had been Dick Grayson, wondering teen. He had been Dick Grayson, Renegade.</p><p>He hadn’t even chosen that name. Thalia came up with it when they realised he’d need an alias. He was the betrayer. The rebel.</p><p>Was.</p><p>Now?</p><p>Now he just had to get to the next day, then the next, hopefully saving his friends and family along the way. Saving himself along the way.</p><p>His comm went off and Artemis’ voice crackled in his ear.</p><p>
  <em>“Renegade, I’m going on break, get to Kaldur’s room.”</em>
</p><p>Dick sighed, stood straight. He brushed the hair from his face and left the bathroom.</p><p>“on my way, Tigress,” he said.</p><p>The day had started. He just had to keep it going.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>M’Gann was basically doing all the heavy lifting, Kaldur was more pointing out where one piece of column went, and then the next. Especially seeing as everything was almost done, Kaldur was back to his old self pretty much.</p><p>Dick stared at the pantheon around him. an open area, marble flooring and engraved and a painted ceiling, the columns were etched to hold ancient runes filled with magic. The view was getting better by the second, coral reefs beginning to flourish, schools of fish winding their way through the buildings.</p><p>There wasn’t much for him to do when he was on watch, but standing around in Kaldur’s mind was slightly less boring than standing around in the room.</p><p>“you know,” Kaldur said, and Dick turned to see him by one of the columns, “when I said you could one day see Atlantis this isn’t what I had in mind.”</p><p>Dick laughed, Kaldur swam closer.</p><p>“hey, it’s the closest thing I’ll get,” Dick shrugged, “pretty nice though, not too shabby.”</p><p>Kaldur smiled, looking up at the ceiling, “this is a public performance area.”</p><p>“oh?”</p><p>He pointed to the raised centre, “that’s where choirs or orchestras would play.”</p><p>“under water?” Dick asked.</p><p>“magic.”</p><p>“right, yes,” Dick nodded, “magic.”</p><p>“not a believer?”</p><p>Dick snorted, “I’m not Wally.” He looked up at the rolling waves painted on the ceiling, “I can see magic, I can believe it.”</p><p>Kaldur was looking at him with sad eyes, “are the Lazarus pits magic?”</p><p>They shared a look.</p><p>“yeah,” he said, looking out at the view, “yeah.”</p><p>“not all magic is a pain in the ass.”</p><p>“ooh, coming in with the curse words, you kiss your mother with that mouth?” Dick snickered.</p><p>“you talk to Artemis enough you pick up some things.”</p><p>Dick huffed a laugh, “you know, I’m twenty two years old and Thalia would still give me dirty looks if I swore around her.”</p><p>“you’re kidding?”</p><p>“nope.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets, “I used to swear in Romanian around her cause it’s one of the few languages she doesn’t know.”</p><p>“what, one of three?”</p><p>“twelve.”</p><p>“really?” Kaldur feigned surprise, “and I thought she was an educated individual.”</p><p>“it’s all an act,” Dick shrugged, “Slade’s not even that scary once you get to know him. and the king of assassins? Spends his days doing paperwork and figuring out how to bring reliable transportation into Nanda Parbat.”</p><p>“wow,” Kaldur laughed, “this feels like forbidden knowledge.”</p><p>“oh yeah, now I have to kill you,” Dick chuckled.</p><p>“ah, well, I had a good run,” he sighed.</p><p>“what are you two gossiping about?” M’Gann asked, floating in, with her was Artemis.</p><p>“architecture,” Kaldur answered.</p><p>“yeah, Atlantis has a lot of it.” Dick smiled.</p><p>“yes, and now it’s all fixed,” M’Gann said, smiling, “everything where it should be. How do you feel?”</p><p>Kaldur nodded, “good.” He looked at Dick, “I am… back in the game.”</p><p>“well,” M’Gann sighed, “say goodbye to the pretty architecture.” The mindscape faded, Dick opened his eyes, he was standing behind M’Gann, leaning against the wall. Artemis was standing by Kaldur’s hand, next to the bed.</p><p><em>“Manta plans to kill you as soon as you’ve finished healing Kaldur,” </em>Artemis said.</p><p><em>“yeah, Dick told me, he’s already given orders,” </em>M’Gann scowled.</p><p>
  <em>“which is why he must not learn I am already healed, at least until we can find a way to get M’Gann out of here.”</em>
</p><p>Dick and Artemis shared a look, <em>“I’ve had some thought, if we could stage some things we might be able to make it look like M’Gann escaped and turned the collar off.”</em></p><p>
  <em>“that’s a long shot.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I said might.”</em>
</p><p>The door opened and Manta strode in.</p><p>“I grow tired of your stalling, Martian.” The voice altering of his helmet almost made it sound like he was growling, “you have twenty four hours.”</p><p>Once Manta left Artemis gave Dick a look.</p><p>“you should head off, take a break, at least drink some coffee.” She continued mentally, <em>“you’ll be in range, we can think of something.”</em></p><p>Dick nodded, “try not to blow anything up while I’m gone.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“your grievance, Sports Master, will be greatly compensated-“</p><p>“Manta’s son Aqualad killed my daughter, Artemis, without my permission, as the Light’s enforcer, I expect reparations.”</p><p>“we grieve at your loss,” Luthor said, smoothly, “and, as said, offer substantial monetary compensation.”</p><p>“and normally I’d be fine with that but this goes to the heart of my rep,” he hit his chest for emphasis, “word gets out I took a payoff I look like a cheap punk.”</p><p>“and,” Savage began, “what would you suggest, old friend?”</p><p>“you know the code,” Sports Master said, not wavering, “an eye for an eye, a kid for a kid.”</p><p>“no one touches Kaldur’Ahm!”</p><p>“agreed,” Savage said, “the death of Kaldur is a non-starter.”</p><p>“fine,” Sports Master said, hands behind his back, “if the minnows under the size limit I’ll go fish for the whale.”</p><p>He threw a shuriken and-</p><p>It was shot from the air, he turned and Deathstroke stood in the doorway, gun smoking.</p><p>“I see you didn’t waste any time hiring my replacement, old friend,” he said.</p><p>Savage brushed dust from his shoulder, smiling, “fortune favours the prepared.”</p><p>“you don’t say.”</p><p>An explosion rocked the room and the wall opened up, utterly destroyed. Cheshire behind the controls of a helicopter ready to go.</p><p>They’d get their revenge.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><h2>
<a id="_Toc51932416" name="_Toc51932416"></a><strong>Complications</strong>
</h2><p> </p><p><em>“we ready to start?” </em>Artemis asked.</p><p><em>“affirmative,” </em>Dick said.</p><p>
  <em>“then begin.” </em>
</p><p>Artemis turned to the camera, “Deathstroke, I need a break and I <em>need </em>coffee.”</p><p>
  <em>“acknowledged.”</em>
</p><p>Artemis left, heading down the halls.</p><p>“coffee? Fresh pot,” one of the troopers offered.</p><p>“no thanks,” Artemis said, heading down the hall. She found her way to the computers and shut off the inhibitor collar.</p><p>All according to-</p><p>
  <em>“intruder alert, reinforcements to my son’s block.”</em>
</p><p>Oh shit.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>M’Gann watched Artemis leave, eying the trooper that had been left to fill in till Dick’s shift began.</p><p>And before she could move the grate in the ceiling dropped, hitting the trooper in the head. it was followed by tazer lines attaching to their helmet and shocking them to the floor. Cheshire dropped in.</p><p>Cheshire? <em>What?</em></p><p>She threw a knife and M’gann batted it away with her chair.</p><p>“you protect the man who murdered your best friend?”</p><p><em>“Dick get to Kaldur’s room now.” </em>she turned to Cheshire, <em>“stop, you don’t understand.”</em></p><p>She had to tell her everything and quick, Slade didn’t know the plan, he’d turn off her telepathy and send for backup.</p><p>“move out of the way, Martian,” Cheshire said, sword pointed at M’Gann, “I might even let you get a cut in if you’re lucky.”</p><p>The door swung open and troopers started firing. M’Gann almost felt relieved. Cheshire dodged the fire expertly, jumping around and not staying still. She slammed the door closed and sliced her sword into the controls to keep it in place.</p><p>She was weapon-less, time to move.</p><p>M’Gann jumped in, tackling her from behind, Cheshire threw her back into the wall. M’Gann reached for the trooper’s gun, Cheshire grabbed it as she did and they fought for it. M’Gann grunted as she struggled, turning the gun to point at the camera, she shot wildly till it frizzed. Cheshire got leverage and pulled the gun from her and pushed her to the ground.</p><p>“stop.”</p><p>The two whipped their heads to Kaldur, sitting on the bed.</p><p>“all is not what it seems,” he said, sliding out of bed and taking the Sai blade from the wall where it had embedded itself after M’Gann batted it away with the chair.</p><p>“the minnow speaks,” Cheshire said, her mask’s eternal grin matching her voice, “killing you will be so much more satisfying.</p><p>“you seek my death because of your sister, but Artemis is alive.”</p><p>Cheshire faltered, her stance hesitant, “Artemis is… alive?”</p><p>She dropped her arms.</p><p>Then grabbed the blade, got behind him and held it to his neck.</p><p>“you didn’t really think I’d buy that did you?”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Dick raced to Kaldur’s room, finding a group of troopers outside.</p><p>“sir, Cheshire is in there.”</p><p>“what?” Dick barged to the door, looking at it, trying to figure out how to open it.</p><p>“she severed the computer’s connection to the door’s mechanisms, we can’t get it to open.”</p><p>“the computer?” he wasn’t listening to the troopers answer.</p><p>She’d severed the computer, the door was a bunch of mechanisms with nothing to tell it what to do.</p><p>Which he could work with.</p><p>He opened the computer’s compartment by the door, ripped out the wires. He took the few pieces that were on the door’s side of the system and plugged them into his computer. He hacked past it in one second, made the order for the door to open in two.</p><p>He ran through, the door closed behind him before the troopers could get in.</p><p>“Cheshire!”</p><p>She turned her head, a blade was to Kaldur’s throat.</p><p>“Renegade,” she hissed, “long time no see, when was it, France?”</p><p>“Tibet.”</p><p>“ah, good times,” she sighed, “now, stay out of my way, this is a basic case of revenge, I’m sure you can understand, you don’t have to be a part of this.”</p><p>“Cheshire,” he looked at the camera, it was out, “you don’t understand, this isn’t how it seems.”</p><p>She ignored him, going for the kill.</p><p>Dick let the electrum in, he raced for her, grabbed her arm, kicked her behind the knee. Kaldur hit backwards with his head and escaped her grasp. Cheshire tried to elbow Dick but he caught it and twisted her round, letting the blade clatter to the ground. He hit her across the face, her mask went askew and she stumbled towards the bed.</p><p>And the door exploded.</p><p>Dick was up quickly, he watched Manta run in and get the door off Kaldur. Dick intercepted Cheshire’s electric device, the buzz ran up his arm, he grit his teeth, pulled it off and threw it.</p><p>“impressive,” she hissed. Then threw a shuriken, Dick batted it away with a knife, Manta strode forwards to attack, Cheshire jumped forwards to attack Dick, he batted her away and Manta went to throw a punch but Cheshire twisted and slapped another electric device on his helmet. He shuddered and collapsed.</p><p>“<em>ENOUGH.”</em> Miss Martian rose into the air and let her collar fall.</p><p>The next thing Dick knew he was in a whole new mind scape.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It was six o’clock Sunday morning. Two beds were pushed against either side of the room. An Alice in wonderland poster was taped above one. The windows were hung with blinds that were broken, each slat uneven and the rope keeping them together fraying. An old rough rug sat between the beds atop a wooden floor. A dresser was pushed into one corner.</p><p>It was a kid’s room. Small. Musky. Dust motes were floating in the air. It was perfectly normal, nothing strange abut it other than the inhabitants.</p><p>Tigress lay on the bed, sitting up and standing to look around. Cheshire stood against the wall, by the foot of the bed. Kaldur not far from her right. Sportsmaster was tucked into the corner. Renegade was by the bedside table between the two beds, back to the piece of wall between the windows.</p><p>They stared around at each other. M’Gann flew in from the ceiling.</p><p>Cheshire regained her wits first, “how dare you,” she hissed, “what gives you the right to invade my mind and steal this memory-“</p><p>“it’s not your memory Jade,” Tigress stood forward, “it’s mine.”</p><p>M’Gann looked between them all, with a wave of her hand Tigress became Artemis, wearing a black turtleneck and jeans. Kaldur became Aqualad, his old uniform almost forgotten. Cheshire’s mask disappeared, her weapons with it. Sports Master was the same. Renegade became Dick Grayson, a pale scar against his throat.</p><p>“I’m alive,” Artemis said, “I’m here.”</p><p>“look,” Miss Martian said, her eyes glowed and the world turned dark as memories resurfaced.</p><p>Kaldur stabbed Artemis, but the blade bent around her chest.</p><p>“Aqualad did not kill Artemis.”</p><p>Batgirl was placing a necklace around Artemis’ neck.</p><p>“she only pretended to be dead.”</p><p>Tigress stood beside Kaldur, on the mission to the mountain, Dick sitting in one of the chairs as Kaldur turned and told Tigress to hit the switch.</p><p>“so she could become Tigress and join Aqualad’s deep cover mission to infiltrate the Light and the Reach.”</p><p>The memories faded. Jade stepped forward, “you’re alive?”</p><p>Artemis nodded, “I’m alive, so you don’t need to take vengeance on Kaldur.”</p><p>“I guess I don’t,” she said, turning to Kaldur, “you are so lucky fish boy.”</p><p>“we appreciate the cooperation.”</p><p>“and where’s this one come in?” Cheshire said, gesturing to Dick.</p><p>“I heard Ra’s was emancipating, didn’t realise he was being this drastic,” Sports Master said. His tone clearly suggesting he wasn’t believing any of this but was trying to find out as much as possible.</p><p>“I’m sympathetic to the cause,” Dick smiled with a shrug.</p><p>M’Gann snorted and waved her hand, the robin uniform appeared on him. he returned the gesture with a glare.</p><p>“remove it, now,” he ordered.</p><p>“still suits you,” she smiled.</p><p>As it faded he crossed his arms, “it’s tacky and the cape is ridiculous.”</p><p>Cheshire blinked, “Thalia’s guard is… the ex-boy wonder.”</p><p>Dick glared, “yeah and Damian’s dad is Batman, it’s fucked up family, get over it.”</p><p>Artemis blinked and turned to look at him, “what?”</p><p>He shrugged, “long story.”</p><p>“I can’t believe you’re buying this,” Sports Master scowled, stalking up to Jade, “this is some kind of Martian illusion. She’s playing with our minds.”</p><p>“kinda hard, you don’t have a mind to play with,” Dick said.</p><p>Sports Master stuck a finger in his face, “can it, Renegade, or I’ll-“</p><p>“you’ll what?” Dick activated his electrum, “try me, school coach.”</p><p>“you wanna go freak?”</p><p>“stop, both of you,” Kaldur said, pulling them apart.</p><p>Sports Master chuckled, “Artemis is still dead, I still have my reputation to fix,” he grunted, “once I’m out of here I’m taking your head and turning it into chum.”</p><p>“come on Crusher,” Jade sighed in annoyance, barging past him, she rested a hand on Artemis’ shoulder, “Artemis is your daughter, can’t you feel her presence?”</p><p>“I don’t even feel your presence here.”</p><p>“he’s hopeless,” Jade threw her hands in the air, “and I don’t know why I’m surprised.”</p><p>“release us,” Artemis said, “I’ll convince him.”</p><p>“yeah, good luck with that.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Dick came back to the land of consciousness as abruptly as usual. What made it worse was he was suddenly pushed against the wall.</p><p>“Cheshire,” M’Gann greeted, floating before her, “I’d waste my time dealing with you, but given the way Manta’s treated me the past few months-“</p><p>“the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”</p><p>“exactly.” She dropped her, “make your escape, I’ll buy you all the time you need.”</p><p>“not good enough, I’m still out for Kaldur’Ahm,” Cheshire hissed.</p><p>“go,” M’Gann ordered, “I’ll deal with him myself.”</p><p>Cheshire ran off, M’Gann moved on to Manta.</p><p>“so who’s first. You or your degenerate son?”</p><p>Kaldur slammed into her from behind, she let go of her control over Manta and Dick. He pulled his sword from its sheath and levelled it on her, but she density shifted through the metal, disappearing.</p><p>Kaldur fell to his knees, keeping up the act. Manta circled him with a hug.</p><p>“father, are you alright?”</p><p>“just fine, my son,” Manta said, holding him close, “thanks to you.”</p><p>Dick stood. he had to keep up the act.</p><p>“I’ll go after them,” he said.</p><p>“yes, go,” Manta said, not really paying attention.</p><p>Dick ran down the halls knowing exactly where Cheshire and Sports Master would have gone, he caught them just as Deathstroke did.</p><p>“going so soon?” Deathstroke drawled, “and you didn’t even say good bye.”</p><p>“good bye.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Dick sat down at Kaldur’s desk with a huff, Artemis leant against the back of the chair, Kaldur took his seat behind the desk.</p><p>“I think, all considered,” Dick shrugged, “roaring success.”</p><p>There was a moment of quiet. And then they all erupted into laughter.</p><p>“M’Gann, bless her soul, but she can’t act for shit, oh my god,” Artemis snickered.</p><p>“you didn’t see Kaldur lie through his teeth to Manta,” Dick chuckled, “’father are you alright’ oh my-“ he burst into laughter.</p><p>Kaldur shook his head with a smile.</p><p>“anyway,” Kaldur said, clearing his throat, “back to busines.”</p><p>“yep,” Dick said, “Ra’s wants me outta here so he can hurry up and leave this trash fire, so I’ve done a bit of digging and said a few things to the right people. You had your conversation with the Light earlier, they think you’re the top shit, so I no longer have to stick around and make sure you’re not conning everyone.”</p><p>“that’s why you’re here? I thought it was to protect him?” Artemis frowned.</p><p>“yeah, that’s the story,” Dick shrugged, “but come one, they just wanted someone to keep an eye.”</p><p>Kaldur nodded, “so you’re headed back to Nanda Parbat?”</p><p>“soon, yeah,” Dick said, “which means I won’t be able to help clean up whatever scrapes you get into round here. But Deathstroke’s gotta hang around for a bit, so he can help if you get desperate,” he explained, “and I can give you a secure private communicator if you need me for anything.”</p><p>“we’ll probably need your help digging up dirt on the light,” Artemis said.</p><p>“yes,” Kaldur agreed, “if we are going to end this we need proof.”</p><p>Their comms crackled.</p><p>
  <em>“Tigress, report to Manta’s office.”</em>
</p><p>Artemis groaned and stood straight, “so long, my friends, I must anon.”</p><p>“we’ll pray for you,” Dick called after her.</p><p>“you will be in our hearts,” Kaldur said.</p><p>The door shut and Dick and Kaldur shared a look.</p><p>“I never got to ask,” Kaldur said, “where’d you learn Atlantean?”</p><p>“back home there’s all kinds of people, you ask nice enough they’ll teach you anything.” Dick leaned back, “my sister’s got a crush on this girl who works at one of the cafes, so we spent a lot of time there. her dad’s a historian and her mum’s a collector and ex-archaeologist, between the two of them they knew ancient Greek.”</p><p>Kaldur blinked, “and they taught you?”</p><p>“I had to do something while Alex was trying woo the barista.”</p><p>Kaldur chuckled. He sobered and looked at Dick, “is that what Nanda Parbat is for you? Home?”</p><p>Dick blinked, “I… yeah? Course it is, I’ve been living there for going on six years.”</p><p>Kaldur opened his mouth to speak but faltered.</p><p>Dick turned sad, “say it.”</p><p>“what?”</p><p>“or ask it, either way.”</p><p>“you don’t know what I’m going to say,” Kaldur frowned.</p><p>“you’re going to say something about assassins being bad people and how I’ve made mistakes, whatever, I don’t know, the sentiment is already understood.”</p><p>“I was going to ask how you deal with it.”</p><p>Dick stared, confused, “what?”</p><p>“your family is full of assassins and people with bad history,” Kaldur said, “how do you… go on, when some of your morals clash with them? When you love them and care for them but… you can’t show it.”</p><p>Dick was silent, staring at Kaldur. His eyes drifted to stare at the nothing between his feet.</p><p>“you… love Manta.”</p><p>Kaldur shook his head.</p><p>“I should,” he said, “and I shouldn’t. he’s my father, I… want to…” he sighed, “I just wish he was a normal father I suppose, or even that he wasn’t… well,” he made a face, “him.”</p><p>Dick smiled, “look,” he said, “I’m not a shining example of disregarding your family history.”</p><p>Kaldur laughed, “no I suppose not.”</p><p>They shared a comforting silence for a few moments.</p><p>Kaldur wanted to push further. He had the idea that he could probably point out that Batman had been like his father and he’d left that behind.</p><p>But something made him not do that. Something about Dick’s smile and his carefree look and how relaxed he was.</p><p>“do you remember,” Kaldur said, smiling, “the beach outside the mountain?”</p><p>Dick frowned, surprised by the change of subject, “yes?”</p><p>“I think,” Kaldur said, “when this is over, I’m going to find the best beach I can, and I’m going to buy the house with the best view of it, and every morning I’m going to wake up and make myself a coffee and look at the view.”</p><p>Dick stared, a small smile starting to tug at his lips, but it fell rather quickly.</p><p>“you don’t want to go back to Atlantis?”</p><p>Kaldur pursed his lips and stared at his desk, “I don’t think I‘ll be welcome back there.”</p><p>“you will,” Dick said, “this is all to save the world, Aquaman will understand that.”</p><p>Kaldur shook his head, “it’s treason against my king.”</p><p>Dick dragged his chair forwards up to the edge of the desk, leaning over it to look Kaldur dead in the eye, “they will forgive you. Your king will forgive you.”</p><p>“how can you be sure?”</p><p>“well,” Dick sighed, “in the words of the great Artemis Crock ‘people can forgive and move on, you dummy’.”</p><p>Kaldur laughed, “she said that to you?”</p><p>“yeah,” Dick laughed.</p><p>“and you’re turning it on me?”</p><p>“yep.”</p><p>“does that mean you believe it, too, now?”</p><p>“what?”</p><p>Kaldur smiled, “’people can forgive and move on, you dummy’ so stop worrying about having ‘betrayed’ the JLA,” he said, having caught Dick in his own comforting, “we can forgive and move on.”</p><p>“did you just have a sob fest so you could turn it on me?” Dick asked.</p><p>“no,” Kaldur smiled, “we just so happen to have similar sob fests.”</p><p>Dick laughed, “ah, yes, our lives are both complete and utter messes.”</p><p>They both sat there, smiling, drunk off of some inside joke they hadn’t even said. Faces about three inches apart. It didn’t occur to them that they should probably stand up and leave.</p><p>Dick looked up, caught a glimpse of Kaldur’s eyes and-</p><p>Oh shit.</p><p>
  <em>His feelings for Wally had completely snuck up on him because he’d literally never thought about them. Then all of a sudden one day he’d been chilling with Wally and found himself incapable of tearing his eyes from his friend’s mouth.</em>
</p><p>His chest fluttered.</p><p>He stood up, clearing his throat, trying to hide his face and its slowly forming blush.</p><p>“well, uh, anyway,” Dick said, scratching the back of his neck, “I should, uh… probably go pack my stuff.”</p><p>Kaldur stared up at him, confused, “uh, right,” he said, standing up.</p><p>“it’s fine, you do whatever, uh.”</p><p>“no, here let me.”</p><p>Kaldur didn’t know what had gotten into him. all he knew was that when Dick stood Kaldur could only remember his mother telling him that when on a date with a nice lady you should always open the door for her.</p><p>He reached for the handle of the door, brushing past Dick’s side as he did so. The contact felt charged, like if there were tinder between them it would set fire. It made the electricity he could conjure with magic look like child’s play, like rubbing sticks together.</p><p>Dick froze, Kaldur froze. He spied the blush along Dick’s cheeks.</p><p>He also spied the pale scar along his neck. With the hood and mask down it was visible, but Kaldur had never noticed it from far away. This close it seemed obvious, as if he should never have missed it.</p><p>He frowned, before he could stop himself his hand lifted up to trail along it. Dick flinched, just barely and Kaldur moved his hand away immediately. They stared at each other.</p><p>His skin was warm, burning almost. He should move away.</p><p>He didn’t want to.</p><p>He should.</p><p>He didn’t want to.</p><p>His free hand was still in the air, hovering between him and Dick. His other was still on the door handle. He let it drop.</p><p>Dick was staring, Kaldur was staring, blue and silver eyes unable to tear away from each other.</p><p>Dick moved his hand, bringing it to hover just behind Kaldur’s. he tore his eyes away, watching Kaldur’s hand as he took hold of it, rubbing his thumb along the back of his palm. Kaldur wasn’t watching, his eyes stayed focused on Dick’s. but his hand turned warm. And then his cheeks. It spread to his chest, a tingly feeling that made him want to shiver despite how warm he felt.</p><p>Dick’s other hand came to rest on the side of Kaldur’s face, and they were staring at each other’s eyes again.</p><p>Kaldur didn’t know if he should kiss him. this all seemed like the right messages but also-</p><p>Dick closed the gap, slow and soft. Kaldur wrapped his hands around Dick’s neck and felt Dick’s remaining free hand settle on his waist.</p><p>And he was warm. They could be dropped in the middle of ocean and Kaldur would always be warm.</p><p>They broke apart, foreheads resting against each other, breathing the same air.</p><p>“the armour makes this a bit hard,” Dick laughed.</p><p>Kaldur smiled, “you’re the one in spandex.”</p><p>“it’s armour-weave,” Dick snickered.</p><p>
  <em>“Renegade report to manta’s office.”</em>
</p><p>They jumped. Hands falling away from each other, eyes startled.</p><p>Dick cleared his throat, “uh, I have to go.”</p><p>“yeah,” Kaldur said.</p><p>Dick smiled, “we should probably talk about this some time.”</p><p>“yeah,” Kaldur laughed, rubbing at the back of his neck.</p><p>They stood a moment longer.</p><p>“uh,” Kaldur opened the door.</p><p>“right, thanks,” Dick snickered, “I’ll see you… uh, later.”</p><p>Kaldur shut the door, staring at it. he dropped his head against the metal with a sigh.</p><p>“spandex, are you kidding, Kaldur, come on,” he hissed to himself.</p><p>
  <em>“Kaldur.”</em>
</p><p>He jumped, once more, hitting his head on a screw in the metal.</p><p>He rubbed at his head as he listened to Artemis on the private comm frequency.</p><p>
  <em>“Manta’s confirmed that Renegade is heading back to Nanda Parbat.”</em>
</p><p>“cool, okay,” he said, then rubbed at his eyes.</p><p>
  <em>“I’ve got to go on watch, so we’ll talk again later.”</em>
</p><p>“right, sounds good,” Kaldur said, then had a thought, “remember how I told M’Gann to tell Batgirl to join us for a meeting?”</p><p>
  <em>“yeah?”</em>
</p><p>Kaldur stared at his hand, “what do you think our chances are of dragging Dick to that meeting?”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Dick was a light traveller, he had been since he’d run away from the manor with only one bag. It wasn’t hard to get all his shit together.</p><p>Which made it great because he needed to skedaddle.</p><p>He’d kissed Kaldur. Like, on the lips. Like a real kiss.</p><p>
  <em>Why the fuck did he do that? What the fuck was he thinking?</em>
</p><p>So, he had to get his ass out of there, because if he saw Kaldur again he would pull him aside and talk to him about it. which would be awkward. And get him into a huge mess. And he’d probably kiss him again. FUCK.</p><p>He realised he was basically falling back on his teenaged plan of just running away from your problems, but Dick had had enough problems already. He’d been working alongside Kaldur for months, and he’d been piled on with more issues than the past two years.</p><p>He said bye to Slade on his way out then snuck past Artemis to the ship. He’d left a note for Kaldur, with just the basic ‘hi, I’m too scared to talk to you right now, bye’ kind of thing. And now it was time to get out before he got stuck any longer.</p><p>The ride on the ship to the mainland was quick, he emerged at the Bludhaven docks. He just had to get to Lex Corp’s building, get to the roof, by the time he was there Duvall would have arrived with the chopper.</p><p>He strapped his bag to his back and mock saluted the trooper manning the sub as he exited. He knew Bludhaven’s streets pretty well, so he was able to stuff his hands in his pockets and let his mind wander.</p><p>Until he caught sight of a tail.</p><p>Someone was following him. just a shadow in the background.</p><p>Dick took three rights. He managed to catch them as he crossed the road. The shadow became a smudge of black and copper.</p><p>Dick sighed and rolled his eyes, ducking into an alley, turning down at the end of it to a small area behind a store. He crossed his arms and stared at the sky, almost orange and getting darker by the second.</p><p>“caught me?”</p><p>“you slipped on Burt street,” he said, looking at the entrance of the alley.</p><p>Artemis crossed her arms.</p><p>“what?”</p><p>Did Kaldur tell her and now she was coming after him to make him talk to Kaldur?</p><p>“I want you to come with me.”</p><p>Dick raised his eyebrows, “yes officer, are we going to the station?”</p><p>Artemis didn’t laugh, “easy way or hard way, dude, come on.”</p><p>“I’ve got a dead line, Arty,” he smiled, “can’t miss my flight.”</p><p>“yeah, I thought you’d say that.”</p><p>Dick smiled and took off his bag.</p><p>Then dodged Kaldur’s attempt at tackling him from behind.</p><p>Artemis brought out her crossbow, Dick figured there were drugged darts loaded in it.</p><p>Dick dodged the hits from Kaldur, smiling the whole time. With how much he was moving and how close to Kaldur he was Artemis couldn’t shoot. Dick dodged a punch, dived closer and landed a punch to the gut.</p><p>“this is not a good first date,” he laughed. Then twisted so Kaldur was in front of him so Artemis wouldn’t shoot.</p><p>“come on Dick.”</p><p>“what is this about?” he asked.</p><p>“nothing personal,” Artemis said, “just knew you wouldn’t come if we asked you.”</p><p>“come to what?” Dick frowned.</p><p>Kaldur kicked backwards into his shin, twisted and grabbed his arm to pull him around. Dick elbowed him, but he was now at point blank for Artemis, who had had time to aim and prepare by now.</p><p>The dart sunk into his shoulder. Dick kicked, moving away. He pulled the dart out, reaching for his electrum-</p><p>“it’s an invention of my father’s,” Artemis said, “fucks about with Lazarus.”</p><p>Dick blinked, finding himself unable to grab a hold of his electrum. It was slipping from his fingers, as if something was blocking it.</p><p>“fine,” Dick sighed, settling into a stance, “don’t need it.”</p><p>Maybe not under normal circumstance, but the drug was fast acting and he was against two people. After a bit of back and forth he took a hit and went down. Kaldur grabbed one shoulder and Artemis the other, they awkwardly carried him.</p><p>He blinked at the ground, swirling beneath him.</p><p>“what… the <em>hell..</em> was in that-that drug?” he slurred.</p><p>“it hinders Lazarus, figured that’d knock out your electrum, seeing as they’re apparently intermingled.”</p><p>Dick frowned, not quite blacking out but standing on the edge of it. there shouldn’t be any Lazarus in his bloodstream, it should have disappeared like a month after he was put in the pits. Artemis seemed to have made a lucky guess that turned out true, his electrum must have grabbed onto it and evolved. There was enough still in his system for it to be affected, apparently.</p><p>“hones…ly,” Dick slurred, “fuck both of you.”</p><p>Kaldur laughed, “truly, we are sorry, but we knew you wouldn’t come if we asked you.”</p><p>“where are we,” he swallowed, having held on to the word ‘we’ for a bit too long, “going?”</p><p>“a meeting with the gang,” Artemis smiled, “you excited to see Babs and Wally again?”</p><p>Ah, shit.</p><p>“you’rrrrrrrr right,” he slurred, “I woul’n’t have come.”</p><p>Shit, how long would it take this shit to wear off?</p><p>In the end it seemed that Artemis had measured the dose specifically so Dick would only be able to start walking again once they reached the warehouse. As soon as Dick was able to get his feet under him he tugged his arms away and leant against the wall, scowling.</p><p>“what the hell!” he turned on them, still slightly dizzy, words finally starting to come out clearly.</p><p>“hey, you said it yourself, you wouldn’t have come.” Artemis was standing with a hand on her hip, smirking.</p><p>“do you realise what’s going to happen in there?” Dick asked, eyes narrowed and pointing a finger in her face, stumbling a little to the side as he walked, “Wally’s probably going to hit me, Babs <em>definitely </em>will, and then I’m going to stand there awkwardly while you plan some world-saving plot.”</p><p>“yes,” Kaldur said, “and you’re going to help plan the world saving plot.” he smiled, crossed his arms, “and Wally and Babs are going to hit you.”</p><p>“hey, you may as well come, we’re here now.”</p><p>Dick stared, “are you kidding, fuck y’all.”</p><p>Kaldur grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him in, although Dick kinda gave up half way seeing as there was no chance Kaldur was going to stop. The only way this night ended was him having to call Duvall and explain why he was late.</p><p>“you realise when I don’t show up, they’re gonna come looking for me.”</p><p>“we’ll deal with that if it happens,” Artemis shrugged.</p><p>If? Dick almost laughed.</p><p>He’d caught Isabel in his peripheral vision at some point. She likely wouldn’t perceive Kaldur and Artemis as a threat thanks to the fact that she’d seen him with them before, but she was a clever little bird. He wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up leading Duvall to him.</p><p>They walked in, the whole place was quiet. Rows upon rows of shelves were filed throughout the majority of the building. The ceiling was high and around the circumference of the room was a mezzanine.</p><p>Dick felt severely underdressed, considering Kaldur and Artemis were in their armour, he was stuck in civvies.</p><p>But they turned down a hall of shelves, and standing against the wall was Babs and Wally.</p><p>And M’Gann. And Superboy.</p><p>Oh shit.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Wally was almost relieved that Kaldur called another in-person meeting. He needed to see them, he needed to talk, he needed to be sure they were alive.</p><p>And then M’Gann told him that Kaldur would probably drag Dick along and Wally had a whole new reason to look forward to the meeting.</p><p>He wasn’t in uniform, he was just wearing a jacket and jeans. He kind of missed the lenses of his mask, they were way better than his glasses.</p><p>Conner arrived on his own. M’Gann arrived with Batgirl. When she saw him she ran up and hugged him then pointed at his glasses.</p><p>“you look nice in glasses,” she smiled, “very fancy.”</p><p>Wally grinned, “nice to see you, too.”</p><p>“where have you been?” M’Gann asked, “I haven’t seen you since Raquel’s Christmas party.”</p><p>“well,” Wally stuffed his hands in his pockets. How did he explain that he’d technically been spending the past year or so looking for Dick, and now they all found out he was a fucking assassin, “I’ve been around.”</p><p>“you were working in Jump, right?” Conner asked, frowning, “haven’t seen you on the news in a while.”</p><p>“yeah, I haven’t been working there in a while.”</p><p>And then the awkward silence began.</p><p>Wally cleared his throat, “anyway, how are you?”</p><p>God, he missed being a teenager, adult-ing was hard. Small talk? He couldn’t figure it out.</p><p>They all laughed, though, as if he’d made a joke and he ran with it.</p><p>“how long is it gonna take them to show up?” M’Gann asked.</p><p>“not much longer.”</p><p>They all whipped their heads down the hall of shelves. Not far away, Kaldur and Tigress were walking up with-</p><p>Dick.</p><p>Wally stared, wide eyed.</p><p>M’Gann flew over to Artemis and enveloped her in a hug, the two smiling. Artemis strode up to Batgirl and held her hand out for an arm-clasp, copying one of Kaldur’s common gestures. Batgirl took hold of her hand but pulled her into a hug as well.</p><p>“uh, hi,” Conner greeted, seemingly trying to figure out how to handle this.</p><p>“hi,” Kaldur echoed, seemingly just as awkward.</p><p>Wally was staring at Dick, hesitating and lingering behind Artemis and Kaldur. The rest of them seemed to all focus in on him as well.</p><p>he didn’t bother smiling awkwardly or waving.</p><p>Wally brushed past Kaldur and punched him. Dick didn’t stop him, his head whipping back as Wally’s fist connected.</p><p>he blinked and rubbed at his jaw, “you’ve definitely got better on your right hook,” he muttered.</p><p>Wally hit him again, and Dick stared, annoyed. When Wally tried for another hit Dick caught it.</p><p>“I think two’s enough.”</p><p>“I should get at least one per year,” Wally hissed.</p><p>“I could stretch it to two,” Conner glared, stepping forward.</p><p>“okay, calm down,” Artemis held her hands up, “this is a meeting not a beat down.”</p><p>Wally wrenched his hand from Dick’s grasp, “the hell are you doing here?’</p><p>“Artemis drugged me,” Dick said, crossing his arms, “believe me I wouldn’t have come of my own volition.”</p><p>“oh, good to know,” Wally scoffed, “so you were just gonna go back to your assassin friends and ignore us for another six years.”</p><p>Dick was taller than him, Wally was almost pissed about that alone, he wanted to tower over him like he used to when they were kids.</p><p>“okay, that’s not fair, Wally,” M’gann stepped forward, “he’s been helping.”</p><p>“wow, you did the bare minimum, good job,” he sneered.</p><p>“Wally, shut up!” Batgirl ordered.</p><p>Dick finally tore his eyes away from Wally, staring at Barbara. She shouldered past Wally and pushed him aside.</p><p>“I don’t care what the hell you do when this is over, okay, we need all the help we can get,” she said.</p><p>“well I’m here now, so I may as well,” Dick said, half way between joking, the other half annoyed.</p><p>They stared at each other, Wally recognised it as that stupid bat-talk thing.</p><p>Then Barbara pulled her arm back and punched him in the cheek.</p><p>“shit!” Dick winced away, rubbing at it, the skin had split, he wiped away the bead of blood that had appeared.</p><p>Barbara stared, then laughed “oops.”</p><p>“okay, geez, can we stop hitting him now,” Conner said, seemingly vaguely worried, “if we need his help we might want him conscious.”</p><p>“it’s fine,” Dick said, and his eyes turned yellow ringed with green. When he wiped the blood away again the skin had healed, his eyes turned back to blue.</p><p>Barbara blinked, “well that’s new.”</p><p>Dick snickered, “long story.”</p><p>“yeah, well the story I want to hear is what the hell you were thinking,” Wally said, frowning and glaring at him once more, “I mean the league of assassins? Are you fucking kidding me?”</p><p>Dick shrugged, “also a long story.”</p><p>“well shorten it.”</p><p>“look, not to sound ungrateful, but can we talk about something other than me?” Dick said.</p><p>Barbara snickered, “what? Never. You always loved being the centre of attention.”</p><p>Dick sighed, “don’t we have an invasion to stop, or are we putting that on pause?”</p><p>“agreed,” Kaldur said, although he was smiling as if he was holding back a laugh, “the light is planning a summit meeting, we can take advantage of that.”</p><p>“Manta’s already managed to become well enough trusted that Kaldur has been put in charge of security, we can sneak you in,” Artemis explained.</p><p>“the reach will be there, and a lot of other back up, we won’t be enough,” Batgirl said, rubbing at her chin.</p><p>“well,” M’Gann said, smiling at Dick, “you said Ra’s is emancipating.”</p><p>Dick rose his eyebrows, “there is no way.”</p><p>“it’s not that bad an idea.”</p><p>“wait, what are you talking about?” Conner asked.</p><p>“she’s suggesting we hide you as league of assassins members,” Dick said.</p><p>“when the fighting breaks out Ra’s and the rest of his flunkies could fight with us,” Artemis suggested, “that could work.”</p><p>“right, yeah, I’ll text him, ‘hey you want to commit mass treason against the Light and put the entire league in contempt for the rest of eternity?’”</p><p>“you’re a group of assassins, you could handle it.”</p><p>Dick rubbed at his face and sighed, “you have no idea what Nanda Parbat is.”</p><p>“uh, it’s a giant assassin base, duh,” Wally said, “what else would it be?”</p><p>Dick stared at him, dead pan, “it’s a city.”</p><p>They stared at him, “what?”</p><p>“it’s a city,” Dick said, “there are kids who live there, families.”</p><p>Wally laughed, “you’re kidding right?”</p><p>“look, believe me or don’t,” Dick shrugged, “but some assassins have families, where do you think they live?”</p><p>Artemis blinked, “okay, that actually makes a bit of sense.”</p><p>Dick fought the urge to say, ‘no shit’.</p><p>“Ra’s won’t endanger his people,” Barbara said, “I get it, but ask him anyway. Black beetle is a powerhouse, we need all the help we can get.”</p><p>“how goes it on getting Jaime back?” Artemis asked.</p><p>“Zatanna thinks she can figure out how to do it,” batgirl said, “we intend to mobilise on that shortly.”</p><p>Wally was only half paying attention, he just couldn’t get himself to stop glaring at Dick. He supposed he just wasn’t over it yet, which was unsurprising. He couldn’t be expected to just pull a full 180 and change his perspective at the click of his fingers.</p><p>Batgirl could easily be described as professional. She likely hadn’t had any change of mind, she just knew how to prioritise. Kaldur and Artemis had had time to work things out and, technically, so had M’Gann. It was just Wally and Conner who had to learn to deal now, and Conner seemed capable of prioritising, too, all of a sudden. Was that a skill Conner had learned and he’d missed? In Wally’s defence he’d been out searching for a friend and before that he’d been in a coma, he had an excuse. Dick did not have an excuse for having missed so much.</p><p>At some point in their long conversation of figuring things out an owl had settled on to one of the shelves. Thanks to the fact that Wally was staring at Dick he caught the look Dick gave the bird once he realised it was there. he seemed mildly worried. Was the bird a bad thing? Why was Dick worried about a bird?</p><p>“okay, anything else?” Batgirl asked, typing some things on the holo-computer device in her glove.</p><p>“no, I think that’s everything,” Artemis smiled, “we might actually stand a chance.”</p><p>“wouldn’t that be a first,” Kaldur said.</p><p>“yeah, cool, we’re done,” Dick said, leaning over to Kaldur, “hey, remember what I said about missing the helicopter and how someone would probably come after me?”</p><p>Kaldur frowned, “yeah?”</p><p>“wait, what?” Barbara asked.</p><p>“hey, don’t look at me, he’s the one who said not to worry about it,” Dick said, pointing at Kaldur, “but, uh, if we’re done, I might want to go before this meeting gets crashed.”</p><p>“too late.”</p><p>They turned, for the second time that night caught off guard by someone who’d crept up on them.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Dick could not believe he’d let himself slip. They were surrounded and he hadn’t even noticed.</p><p>He noticed now. Jason was perched on top of one of the shelves, Thalia was on the mezzanine above them, and Alex was standing behind them, arms crossed. He seemed to be the only one who noticed the other two, everyone was focused on Alex.</p><p>Batgirl drew a Bo staff and Artemis got out her crossbow. Kaldur’s water bearers materialised, Conner stepped forward to protect M’gann and Wally-</p><p>Wally ran on in without thinking.</p><p>He sped for Alex, who dodged and threw a bolas, a net coming out and gripping on to Wally’s legs.</p><p>Batgirl made to run froward but Dick grabbed her arm.</p><p>“hold off, she won’t hurt you.”</p><p>“she’s-“ Artemis was cut off.</p><p>“here to collect my idiot kid brother, whom I <em>thought </em>must have been <em>captured.</em> I am evidently <em>wrong</em>.”</p><p>Dick sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Lying on the ground, trying to free his legs, Wally sat up and stared, “your kid <em>what?</em>”</p><p>“this is overreacting at its finest, Alex,” Dick said.</p><p>“Duvall called in a panic when you didn’t show up, what did you want me to do?” she asked, stalking forwards. Conner moved closer as if to attack, Dick held a hand up.</p><p>“I’m fine, Kaldur wanted me to come to a meeting, didn’t <em>give me any warning</em>,” he said, eying Kaldur with annoyance.</p><p>Wally had finally untangled himself, “what, is he out past curfew?”</p><p>“can it, West,” Alex hissed.</p><p>“okay, will everyone calm down,” Dick said. Thankfully they all did, putting their weapons away, “Thalia, jay, you want to come out of your hiding spots now?”</p><p>“you’re no fun,” Jay said, peeking his head over the shelf. Dick just stared at him in annoyance.</p><p>Jason flipped down from his perch and Thalia took the stairs.</p><p>Barbara stared at Jason. He stared at her.</p><p>“hi,” he eventually said.</p><p>Barbara responded by wrapping him in a hug.</p><p>“okay, ginger, this is a bit of an overreaction,” Jay said.</p><p>“you were dead!” she said, gripping him by the shoulders, “I went to your funeral!”</p><p>“did they play ACDC?” he asked, grinning.</p><p>“enough of this,” Thalia sighed, “evidently force is unnecessary, this was a misunderstanding.”</p><p>“you think?” Artemis asked.</p><p>“hey, next time you want to kidnap my brother, ask me first,” Alex said.</p><p>“I’m still looking for an explanation on the brother front,” wally said.</p><p>“same dad,” Alex said, as if that explained everything, she then propped her arm on his shoulder and leaned on him, “anyway, is the blonde Artemis? You didn’t say she was cute.”</p><p>Artemis scoffed, “we’ve met before!”</p><p>Dick shrugged Alex off, “can you not?”</p><p>“no,” she said, smiling.</p><p>“look,” Dick sighed, “this is why I said not to force me to come to this,” he said, giving Kaldur a look.</p><p>“what, didn’t want us to meet the family?” Kaldur said, grinning.</p><p>“no, they’re embarrassing,” Dick snorted, “look at Jay, he didn’t even brush his hair.”</p><p>“hey,” he pointed a finger in Dick’s face, “for your information I only came because Alex promised me she’d get the new Spiderman game.”</p><p>Alex groaned, “I hate you so much, you don’t even have a PS4.”</p><p>“yeah, cause Dick hasn’t made good on his promise yet,” Jay said.</p><p>Thalia gave Dick a look of annoyance, he shrugged.</p><p>“how did you now where he was?” Conner asked.</p><p>Thalia looked up at Isabel, perched on the shelf, “we followed Isabel.”</p><p>“who?” Wally frowned.</p><p>Kaldur looked up at her, “okay,” he said, smiling at Dick, “I am starting to understand why you like that bird so much.”</p><p>Dick chuckled and held out his arm, Isabel fluttered down and settled on it.</p><p>“is that an owl?” Barbara asked, staring at her, “dude, why?”</p><p>Dick laughed, “long story.”</p><p>“how many of those do you have?” Wally asked, “I move that Dick is no longer allowed to answer questions with ‘long story’.”</p><p>“if it helps it’s the same story that explains the weird eyes and the healing.”</p><p>“it does not help, but it makes us more interested,” M’Gann grinned.</p><p>“yeah, yeah, you are all so very funny,” Thalia drawled, “time to go.”</p><p>“actually,” Barbara stepped forward, “we have a favour to ask of you.”</p><p>“and why would I do a favour for you?” she sneered.</p><p>“well, we could always kidnap Dick for real,” Artemis offered.</p><p>Alex drew a knife and held it at her throat, “try it.”</p><p>“Okay,” Dick said, using his free hand to push the knife down, “that’s enough. Thalia, could you at least hear her out?”</p><p>She sighed, “make it quick.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Kaldur caught up to them as they left and Dick almost cursed out loud.</p><p>Artemis didn’t follow, the rest of the gang had already left. It was just Kaldur running after him as they walked out onto the roof.</p><p>Thalia sighed in annoyance, “haven’t we done enough?” she muttered to Jason, who shrugged. They loitered by the door onto the roof. Alex stepped between Dick and Kaldur.</p><p>“could you give us a moment?” Kaldur asked.</p><p>“what do you want, fish boy?” Alex asked.</p><p>“Alex, calm down,” Dick eased, he glanced over at Jason and Thalia, “just a moment.”</p><p>Kaldur and Dick walked to the edge of the roof.</p><p>“look,” Dick began, rubbing at the back of his neck.</p><p>“I understand,” Kaldur broke in.</p><p>“what?”</p><p>“you panicked,” Kaldur smirked.</p><p>“I-“ Dick held a finger in his face, “I did not-“</p><p>“yes you did,” Kaldur laughed, “the great Renegade panicked and ran off cause he was scared.”</p><p>“what about this do you find funny?”</p><p>“everything.”</p><p>“oh, wow, than you.”</p><p>Kaldur just snickered.</p><p>Dick swallowed, looking out at the city, he couldn’t keep Kaldur’s smile in his line of sight, it wouldn’t end well.</p><p>“did it mean anything?” Dick asked.</p><p>“what?” Kaldur frowned.</p><p>“did it mean anything?” Dick repeated, “or was it just…” he shook his head with a shrug, “I don’t know-“</p><p>“I meant it,” Kaldur said, “I kissed you back didn’t I?”</p><p>Dick smiled awkwardly and cleared his throat, “I don’t know, people are weird.”</p><p>Kaldur laughed, “indeed they are.”</p><p>And they were back to square one. Kaldur was staring at Dick’s eyes and Dick was trying his best not to stare back.</p><p>“did <em>you</em> mean it?” Kaldur asked.</p><p>“well, I started the kiss, didn’t I?”</p><p>“I don’t know,” Kaldur shrugged, smiling, “people are weird.”</p><p>Dick laughed, “look… I don’t know why I did it or… what to do now-“</p><p>“you’re complicating it,” Kaldur said.</p><p>“what?”</p><p>“you’re complicating it, it’s just a kiss,” Kaldur said, “for a moment, pretend you’re not an assassin, that there is no invasion, uncomplicate it. you kissed me, what do you do now?”</p><p>Dick shook his head, “it’s not that simple.”</p><p>“make it simple.”</p><p>“I can’t just ignore the reality of the situation,” Dick said, “it is complicated, I can’t change that.”</p><p>“if I kissed you again would you stop me?”</p><p>“I…” Dick swallowed, staring at Kaldur’s lips, “probably not.”</p><p>“that’s pretty simple.”</p><p>“Kal,” Dick sighed, “I don’t know,” he ran his hands through his hair, “I just don’t.”</p><p>“that’s okay.”</p><p>Dick looked up, unable to fight the look of surprise.</p><p>Kaldur smiled, “I won’t push, but…” he looked out at the skyline, “think about it? can you promise me that much?”</p><p>Dick nodded, “yeah,” he smiled, “yeah, I can think about it.”</p><p>They shared a look.</p><p>“does that mean you’re asking me out?” he laughed.</p><p>“in a way, I suppose,” Kaldur said, “should I bring flowers the next time I talk to you?”</p><p>“seeing as that will likely be the summit, maybe not.”</p><p>“maybe not.”</p><p>They smiled, looking at the ground, the stars, the city lights, each other.</p><p>“I have to go.”</p><p>“right, yeah,” Kaldur said, glancing at the three assassins waiting, “try not to get bored without Artemis and I’s shenanigans.”</p><p>Dick snorted, “are you kidding me, I can’t wait to sleep in and have food that isn’t fish.”</p><p>They laughed a little longer then Dick awkwardly stepped away, shooting his final goodbyes. He turned to his family and Kaldur walked away.</p><p>Both trying to pretend they couldn’t feel the charge between them.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Meeting</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>
<a id="_Toc51932417" name="_Toc51932417"></a><strong>Meeting</strong>
</h1>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<h2>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932418" name="_Toc51932418"></a>Preparations</strong>
</h2>
<p> </p>
<p>Alex found Dick flying, as per usual.</p>
<p>She hadn’t realised how much she missed watching him fly in the months he’d been gone. Now, sitting on the rock of the mountain’s covered outcrop she stared up at him, soaring through the air, dropping into the net, scurrying up again only to fly once more.</p>
<p>Eventually he grabbed a drink of water, breathing heavily, and stared at her from his place.</p>
<p>“what are you doing here?” he asked.</p>
<p>Alex shrugged, sitting up straight, “I wanted to talk to you.”</p>
<p>“about what?” Dick asked, walking over.</p>
<p>“fish lad. Aqua boy. Saltwater. Whatever you want to call him.”</p>
<p>Dick raised an eyebrow, “why?”</p>
<p>Alex gestured to the space beside her. Dick sighed and sat next to her.</p>
<p>“what’s this about?”</p>
<p>“I was not listening to your conversation with him last night.”</p>
<p>“good.”</p>
<p>“but,” Alex said, “I didn’t have to.”</p>
<p>Dick sighed, “get to it, Alex.”</p>
<p>Alex groaned, “why do you make my job as a sister so hard?”</p>
<p>“sorry,” Dick snickered, “I could make it easier if you told me what this is about.”</p>
<p>Alex looked at him, “take a guess.”</p>
<p>“what do you mean?”</p>
<p>“when I say the name Kaldur’Ahm, what’s you first thought?”</p>
<p>Dick swallowed and looked away, “Uhhhhh.”</p>
<p>“exactly.”</p>
<p>“shut up.”</p>
<p>Alex poked him in the side, grinning, “Dickie’s got a cruuuuuuuuuush.”</p>
<p>“I swear to god, Alex, don’t-“</p>
<p>“Dick and Kaldur sittin’ in a tree.”</p>
<p>“stop.”</p>
<p>“K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”</p>
<p>“Alex please.”</p>
<p>“first comes-“</p>
<p>Dick pushed her over, “stooooooooop.”</p>
<p>Alex giggled, poking him in the side, “nooooo, I will not stop till you say it.”</p>
<p>Dick hit away her hands but she kept poking him and tickling, giggling all the while.</p>
<p>“Alex stop acting like a school girl!”</p>
<p>She grabbed him in the most violent hug Dick had ever been given, still laughing.</p>
<p>“you’re such an idiot, Dick,” Alex chuckled, “the biggest fucking idiot.”</p>
<p>“please let go of me,” he said.</p>
<p>“nah.”</p>
<p>“Alex why.”</p>
<p>“because you’ve got a cru~<em>ush,</em>” Alex said, holding back more giggles, “and you have no idea what to do about it so,” she looked over at the trapeze, “here you are.”</p>
<p>“that is not what’s happening.”</p>
<p>“it is,” Alex said, “oh, you silly little boy.”</p>
<p>“I’m twenty two.”</p>
<p>“then stop acting like a child about this and face your feelings,” Alex said, smiling.</p>
<p>“no.”</p>
<p>“then I guess you’re stuck here forever,” Alex said, “what a shame, you’ll never be able to kiss Aquaboy again.”</p>
<p>“It’s Aqualad,” Dick corrected, “and you said you <em>weren’t </em>listening.”</p>
<p>“I lied,” Alex grinned, “are you surprised?”</p>
<p>“not in the slightest.” He sighed, “will you let go of me now?”</p>
<p>“don’t know,” Alex asked, “where are Dick and Kaldur?”</p>
<p>“no.”</p>
<p>“sitting in a tree?”</p>
<p>“stop.”</p>
<p>“sing it.”</p>
<p>Dick groaned, then said dead pan, “K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”</p>
<p>“you bet they fucking are,” Alex said, letting him go, “you wanna go get lunch at the café?”</p>
<p>Dick sighed, “yeah, okay.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Alfred had had children of his own, a long time ago.</p>
<p>He’d lost two in childbirth. One in a car crash. His wife passed not long after. That was when he’d left the secret service. He’d remembered working for a Thomas Wayne in the war and thus had asked the man if he was in need of someone to work for him. his answer was ‘not the kind of work you’d do, unless you’re suddenly interested in cleaning and looking after my son’.</p>
<p>Alfred said he was interested in anything, as long as he could get out of London.</p>
<p>And now, years later, he was still working for the Wayne family. he was quite sure he’d earned more grey hair from Bruce and his gaggle of children than he ever had in the war.</p>
<p>But, now he could say that he was a grandfather. So that was a plus.</p>
<p>If only this family he’d found had a better track record of living past their teen years.</p>
<p>That morning he’d woken up early, as per usual. He’d put the water jug on first, read the paper while waiting for it to boil, then made his tea. The sun was no where near rising as of yet. He put the coffee pot on, knowing everyone in the manor liked their coffee better when it had had a chance to brew.</p>
<p>After that it was the tasks he liked to do before people woke up, cleaning the fine china cabinet most importantly.</p>
<p>Once the sun started peeking above the horizon he set about making everyone breakfast, expecting none of them to be awake for another hour.</p>
<p>“would you like a hand?”</p>
<p>Alfred looked to the doorway.</p>
<p>“Miss Barbara,” he greeted, “up early. I didn’t know you’d stayed the night.”</p>
<p>“yes, I… had something to talk to Tim about,” she said, sitting at the breakfast bar in the centre of the kitchen.</p>
<p>“I suppose it went well?” Alfred asked, busying himself about the kitchen.</p>
<p>“well,” Barbara said, “better than I believe the same conversation will go with you.”</p>
<p>Alfred turned from the counter, “whatever do you mean, Miss Barbara?”</p>
<p>Barbara sighed, “Alfred, could you maybe sit down?”</p>
<p>Alfred frowned, “I should think not, Miss Barbara, I have work to do,” he said, “what is it you must tell me?”</p>
<p>Barbara smiled.</p>
<p>“Jason’s alive.”</p>
<p>Alfred frowned, “what?”</p>
<p>Barbara nodded, “he’s alive.”</p>
<p>Alfred gaped, put down the utensil in his hand and sat down opposite Barbara at the breakfast bar.</p>
<p>“Dick is also alive, but that was never in question.”</p>
<p>Alfred blinked, “I- Miss Barbara…” he was looking in her expression for a speck of something, but everything about her expression said it was the truth, “how do you know?”</p>
<p>She smiled, “I’ll start at the beginning for you.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“so,” Artemis asked, “back in the office, one man down.”</p>
<p>Kaldur leaned against his desk, “let’s not think on it too much, we have work to do.”</p>
<p>“right, yeah,” Artemis smiled, “hey, out of curiosity, how’d your conversation with Dick go?”</p>
<p>Kaldur sighed, “Artemis-“</p>
<p>“no, come on, I haven’t been able to participate in gossip in forever,” Artemis whined, “give me something.”</p>
<p>Kaldur laughed, looking at the ground. He schooled his features, “no.” he walked around to sit behind his desk, “we have work to do.”</p>
<p>Artemis sighed, but smiled.</p>
<p>“time to hit the ground running.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Batman was, above all else, a professional. In times of crisis he could cut out the feelings till everything was handled and then sit down and address everything he’d bottled up in that time.</p>
<p>He was well aware that wasn’t the definition of the word professional, but it was what he thought of himself.</p>
<p>But even he could feel extremely and utterly <em>bored</em>.</p>
<p>When not in the middle of trial he and the rest of the leaguers with him were stuck sitting in holding, with absolutely nothing to do. He had none of his gear, which meant he couldn’t muddle away at case files on his computer. He couldn’t sharpen his batarangs. Couldn’t rifle through his stuff to make sure it was all functional. He was stuck occupying himself with his mind.</p>
<p>Unless he wanted to talk to the other five leaguers he was locked up with. That was a non-starter.</p>
<p>“I know that face.”</p>
<p>Batman looked up.</p>
<p>“feeling grumpy, ol’ man?” Canary grinned.</p>
<p>“I’m glad you can find some humour in this situation,” Batman said. Grumpily.</p>
<p>“we’ll work this out, Bruce,” Superman said, “we always do.”</p>
<p>“right,” said Batman, “and while we work this out we’ve left the Light and Reach to be dealt with entirely by the team, alone.”</p>
<p>“I trust them,” Hawkwoman said, “just you wait, when we get back, they’ll have handled everything.”</p>
<p>Batman remained staring straight ahead.</p>
<p>“don’t bother,” Martian Manhunter said, “he’s in one of his pessimistic moods.”</p>
<p>Batman glared at him.</p>
<p>“am I wrong?” Manhunter said, raising an… well raising the area above his eye where his brows would be.</p>
<p>“let’s just say the sooner we’re back on Earth the happier I’ll be.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dick stared at the syringe in his hand, eyes sad.</p>
<p>“you said you were doing better,” he muttered.</p>
<p>Alex shrugged, “better is contextual.”</p>
<p>“that it is,” Dick said, putting the syringe on the ground next to him, “finished your water?”</p>
<p>She moved her head a bit “yeppers.”</p>
<p>Dick got up and filled her glass half way again, grabbed a muesli bar for her and a chocolate bar for himself, then padded back to her room silently. He pretended he didn’t see Thalia peeking her head out of a hallway in the corner of his eye. He wondered if she’d been pulling the nightly watch on Alex for the months he was away.</p>
<p>By the time he’d sat down again, made sure Alex was only taking sips and got half way through his chocolate bar he’d gotten tired of wondering.</p>
<p>“how’d you do without me?”</p>
<p>She looked at him confused.</p>
<p>“I only left for the mission with Kaldur without a fight because I thought you’d be okay,” he said, staring at her, hair falling in front of his eyes, “I’m starting to wish I stayed.”</p>
<p>“no,” she said, poking him with her foot, “then you wouldn’t have started a sparking romance with Fish lad.”</p>
<p>Dick snorted, “oh yeah, the sparking romance I’m too scared to pursue.”</p>
<p>“nah,” Alex smiled, “you’ll get there.”</p>
<p>“yeah,” Dick said, “if I live past the summit meeting.”</p>
<p>“I’ll come with,” Alex said, “you know, watch your back.”</p>
<p>Dick smiled, “thanks.”</p>
<p>“yeah, we gotta have… what’s the word? Contin…” she frowned, “contingencies.”</p>
<p>“yeah…” Dick said, eyes widening as a thought occurred to him, “yeah, we do.”</p>
<p>“oh no,” Alex said, “no, that’s your master plan face, the one that means you’re thinking things that are bad ideas.”</p>
<p>“it’s not a bad idea, it’s a smart idea,” he said, glancing at the syringe next to him, “a very smart idea.”</p>
<p>“okay, so do it,” Alex said, “see? You’re not doing it, must be stupid. Don’t do it.”</p>
<p>Dick snickered, “I’ll do it tomorrow-“</p>
<p>“it is tomorrow,” Alex said, smiling, “it is now 4:30.”</p>
<p>“whatever, I’ll do it when you’re less high.”</p>
<p>“ugh, I hate being less high.”</p>
<p>“no you don’t,” Dick said, “it hurts less.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The pits looked the exact same as they did that night and yet completely different.</p>
<p>His memories were whispering at the back of his mind. he wanted to run away, he was terrified of this place, and yet he had to be here.</p>
<p>The summit meeting was a week away, Dick had no idea how this was going to go. He’d run a few errands for Kaldur, making sure they had all their evidence together. Now they just had to show up and hope that Slade only <em>fake</em> killed Kaldur and Artemis.</p>
<p>But there were too many variables. Too many possibilities. Dick couldn’t live with he idea that maybe that meeting could be the end. They were putting all the heroes in one place, ready for the light to kill them. If they didn’t win then there was no one left to take down the light. No one left to save the day.</p>
<p>So he needed assurance.</p>
<p>he was falling back on Robin and the irony of that did not allude him.</p>
<p>Batman had taught him to always have a plan Z, for when plans A through Y fail. So here he was, collecting plan Z.</p>
<p>“the pits are not meant to be stored in syringes, my boy,” Ra’s said, “at least not in it’s pure form.”</p>
<p>Dick sighed, standing and securing the lid of the syringe before he put it in his belt.</p>
<p>“I know, sir,” he said, “it’s a long story.”</p>
<p>“I suppose it has to do with this insane plan of yours,” Ra’s said, “to rebel at the summit meeting.”</p>
<p>“will you do it?” Dick asked, turning around. Ra’s stood, leaning on his cane, staring at the pits.</p>
<p>“I’m not entirely sure.”</p>
<p>“how are your talks with Savage going, about emancipating?”</p>
<p>“not well.”</p>
<p>“that’s what’s our other option?”</p>
<p>Ra’s thought on it, letting out a long breath, “it is a risky move.”</p>
<p>“I know.”</p>
<p>“we could be putting our people in danger.”</p>
<p>“if we don’t do it they’ll be in danger from the reach,” Dick said, “the JLA needs us.”</p>
<p>Ra’s nodded, “yes, indeed they do.”</p>
<p>“do we have a reason not to help?”</p>
<p>“no.”</p>
<p>Dick held his arms out as if to say, ‘so why not?’</p>
<p>“it doesn’t just come down to why not,” Ra’s said, gripping his cane, “it also comes to why at all.”</p>
<p>“why? Why does it have to?”</p>
<p>“that’s just how the world works.”</p>
<p>Dick smiled, laughed, “yeah, of course.”</p>
<p>Ra’s raised an eyebrow, “what do you mean, my boy?”</p>
<p>Dick stuffed his hands in his pockets, “I’m sick of ‘that’s just how the world works’, really, so sick of it.” he shook his head, laughing, “it’s a coward’s way out, it’s what you say when you can’t be bothered to dig in and get to work.”</p>
<p>“how dare you-“</p>
<p>“no, I’m sorry Ra’s, I appreciate all you’ve done for me the past six years, really, I do,” he said, “but I am going to do something to stop our planet from being invaded by a bunch of insane beetle-hybrid aliens!” He held his hands out, “with or without you. Because I don’t want the reach knocking on our door and enslaving our people. So I’ll do what I have to do, and damn how the world works!”</p>
<p>“you could die, you’re friends and family could die.”</p>
<p>“they’re gonna die anyway, if that’s how the world works!” Dick hissed, “so I think it comes down to this; the world is screwed, can I do something about it? yes. Whether it changes anything much in the end doesn’t matter, but I’m not gonna sit here and do nothing when there’s a chance I could make a difference!” He waited for Ra’s to speak, to yell at him, he said nothing, “what’s the verdict?”</p>
<p>Ra’s made a face of consideration and took his cane, hanging it on his arm to free his hands. He stood straight.</p>
<p>And applauded.</p>
<p>Dick gaped.</p>
<p>“bravo, my boy,” Ra’s said, hands finishing their applause with one final clap, he folded them over his cane once more, “bravo.”</p>
<p>“what?”</p>
<p>“I have been waiting for an outburst like that for six years,” Ra’s said, leaning forward, “to be honest I was beginning to think it would never happen.”</p>
<p>Dick blinked, staring confused, “<em>what?</em>”</p>
<p>Ra’s chuckled, stepping forward, “ah, my boy,” he smiled and patted a hand on his shoulder, “I’m glad to see you’ve decided to give up on not ruffling feathers.”</p>
<p>“hang on,” Dick held up a finger, frowning, “wait, you’re… glad?”</p>
<p>“very,” Ra’s said, still smiling.</p>
<p>“I…” he stared, “uh… why?”</p>
<p>“I remember,” Ra’s said, looking into the distance as if nostalgic, “when your father came to me asking to leave the league. He said, ‘Ra’s, I’m tired of watching my fellow assassins make lives for themselves here while I just sit around guarding your snooty ass, I want to go follow my own goals instead of helping you follow yours’ and I said ‘John’-” Ra’s smiled and looked at Dick.</p>
<p>“I know what you said, you said he could leave as long as Alex stayed, yadda yadda.”</p>
<p>“no,” Ra’s laughed, “I said, ‘John, it’s time for you to face the demons of the world and laugh at them’.” He shrugged, “well, at the end of the conversation, after the terms and conditions, but that’s the important part.”</p>
<p>Dick smiled, “you… wait, what?”</p>
<p>Ra’s sighed, “Dick, you showed up on our doorstep looking for answers and purpose, but you stayed because we gave them to you,” he smiled, and for a moment he was just the ruler of Nanda Parbat, the man responsible for keeping thousands of lives safe and comfortable, not the assassin king, “for six years I’ve waited for you to grow tired of what we’ve given you and make something for yourself, just as you always had intended, but…” he shrugged, “I assume we were just too nice, gave you too much support,” he laughed, “I’m surprised there’s such a thing, and that we of all people could do it. but I suppose we managed it.”</p>
<p>“so you’re going to… stop giving support?” Dick frowned, “I don’t know where you’re going with this.”</p>
<p>Ra’s sighed, “unfortunately I do,” he patted him on the shoulder again, “you’ve got to face the world’s demons, but that is difficult when you can’t face your own demons, but so far you’ve had some issues getting yourself to do that, so,” he moved his hand to Dick’s chest, “I’ll give you a push.”</p>
<p>Dick was about to speak but Ra’s pushed and he stumbled back, falling.</p>
<p>Falling, falling, falling.</p>
<p>Right into the pits.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dick woke up in a new mindscape.</p>
<p>He was lying down, looking up at the ceiling, which was red and white, convex. Like the centre of a big top held up by an invisible pole. It seemed backlit on one side and the other dark, as if the sun was at its brightest to the left but by the time it reached the right side of the sky it was nothing but moon and stars.</p>
<p>Dick frowned, staring at it. he sat up, quickly, staring at the nothing before him in confusion.</p>
<p>The last thing he remembered was Ra’s pushing him in the pits. This wasn’t the pits.</p>
<p>Unless they’d driven him insane and this was a hallucination. Or he’d blacked out and whatever happened he’d been left here to wake up.</p>
<p>He took in the rest of the room. The walls were plain white and cracking at the edges near the top, just like the walls of the orphanage he’d stayed at before Bruce took him in. they slowly bled into grand wallpaper, pictures and paintings filling the walls. At the far end of the room was a giant two-side staircase that curved around to the middle onto a balcony, no doors or arches, just solid wall. The floor was the carpeting of the Nanda Parbat Palace’s halls. The windows were thick laminated glass rimmed with steel, bolted in, like the windows of Manta’s subs.</p>
<p>There weren’t any lights, the whole place seemed dark with just enough light for him to see everything. He saw, from his place in the middle of the giant high-ceilinged room, out one of the windows a dark city skyline. Out another was a long stretch of grass. Another the lounge area of mount justice. Another the bat cave. The streets of Kabul. The coffin chamber of the court of owls. The inside of his family’s old train cart. His bedroom at Nanda Parbat. Kaldur’s office on the submarine. The view from the trapeze Alex and Thalia had given him.</p>
<p>“it’d be fantastic if you could fuckin’ choose one.”</p>
<p>Dick looked over, sitting in the middle of the room, a blank circle of white cut into the carpet, was a boy. About twelve, black hair, blue eyes, nails bitten down to the nub. He was wearing red converse, fraying a bit, the laces too loose, with checkered socks. Black skinny jeans, the knees grey, a maroon t shirt and a thick black watch. The circle of white he sat on wasn’t a rug or a table, it was just… white. The carpet stopped and there was just white.</p>
<p>“oh, is it weird?” he asked, looking down at it, “I don’t like this whole rocky horror picture show thing you’ve got going on, prefer not to touch it,” he said. He waved his hand and a yellow blanket appeared in it, he spread it out beneath him and sat cross-ankled on it, hands clasped together with his elbows on his knees.</p>
<p>“who the hell are you?” Dick asked.</p>
<p>The boy frowned, “you, but like,” he shrugged, “without the contradictory mess inside.”</p>
<p>“what, before everything hit the fan?” Dick asked, “shouldn’t you be younger?”</p>
<p>“uh,” he made one of those over-exaggerated considering faces, “I guess you unconsciously figured you’d take a twelve year old more seriously than an eight year old.”</p>
<p>“wow,” Dick muttered, “go subconscious me.”</p>
<p>“don’t be a prick, you’ve only got you to blame,” tiny him said, “look at this mess, it’s a wonder your brain works at all, you can’t find anything round here.”</p>
<p>Dick huffed a laugh, “what is this, an intervention?”</p>
<p>“sure, if that’s what you want to call it,” he said, “you’re life’s fucked, dude, hurry up and pick one of these stupid paths and move on.”</p>
<p>“what?”</p>
<p>“pick a life, you’re living, like, ten at he same time. You can’t be Robin, Dick, Renegade, all at once. You can’t be all the personas and characters at once, pick one, move on.”</p>
<p>“why?”</p>
<p>“because!” younger him scowled, “look at this, it’s ridiculous, everything’s all over the place.”</p>
<p>“it’s not that bad.”</p>
<p>“it’s dysfunctional,” young him said, “you can’t be the assassin and the hero. You can only be one.”</p>
<p>Dick rolled his eyes, “and what would you know?”</p>
<p>“I’m you.”</p>
<p>“yeah, and I’m fucking stupid,” Dick said, “why would I listen to me? Especially twelve year old me, that’s just asking for trouble.”</p>
<p>“well how about I change, then?” young him said, smiling.</p>
<p>The air shifted, as if it were hot, and young him became Bruce.</p>
<p>“what about now?”</p>
<p>“really?” Dick scowled, standing, “I’m more likely to punch him in the face.”</p>
<p>Bruce rolled his eyes, shifted into Superman, “now? He’s cool, you know, in a boy scout way.”</p>
<p>“yeah and I hate him cause he made superboy feel bad.”</p>
<p>“you don’t hate him.”</p>
<p>“no, but I won’t listen to him, try again, give me some guilt or something.”</p>
<p>Superman sighed, shoulders sagging. He shifted into Canary, “how about the therapist.”</p>
<p>“Dinah is more than a therapist, she’s a bad ass,” Dick said, “but also, righteous hero.”</p>
<p>Canary shifted into Cobb, “not righteous.”</p>
<p>Dick glared, “too far from righteous.”</p>
<p>Cobb groaned, standing, “god you’re picky aren’t you, Jesus,” he shifted and became Ra’s.</p>
<p>“closer?” he asked.</p>
<p>“he’s an assassin king. Also he pushed me into the pits.”</p>
<p>Ra’s threw his head back and shouted in frustration, kicking the floor in annoyance, “come ooooooooooon, this is ridiculous.”</p>
<p>“I guess you don’t know me, you can’t find someone I’ll listen to.”</p>
<p>Ra’s pointed at him, “oh, wait, yeah I do,” he laughed and did finger guns, shifting once more.</p>
<p>Into Kaldur.</p>
<p>“how’s this?” he asked, doing a spin, “woooooow, he’s so muscley, oh my god,” he grinned and felt at his arms, “wow. And his voice is so regal, oh my.” he rolled his neck, “no, yeah, I get it, he’s like the best of everything, smart, funny and a beefcake.”</p>
<p>“I’m really starting to worry about my subconscious.”</p>
<p>“oh, shut up,” fake Kaldur grinned, “anyway, I’ve hit the spot, bravo me, now get your act together.”</p>
<p>“okay, but like, you’re not actually Kaldur,” Dick shrugged, “gonna take more than the guy I like’s face to get me to listen.”</p>
<p>“sure, whatever you say jack ass,” fake Kaldur laughed, “look, you’re at a crossroads, last time that happened you stuck your head in the sand and went with what everyone was telling you to do because you were tired of fighting destiny or whatever, you can’t do that again, dude.”</p>
<p>“right, sure, okay,” Dick sighed, “let’s say I go all out, go back to the hero gig, do you think that’s gonna make me any less fucked up here?” Dick laughed, pointing to his skull, “I haven’t been a functional person since I watched my parents die.”</p>
<p>“hey, you were pretty good there at fifteen,” Kaldur said, “then Zuko was released, you killed him, you found out about your family history and you’ve been on a roller coaster to fuck-ville ever since.”</p>
<p>“wow, okay,” Dick rubbed at his face, “words can hurt.”</p>
<p>“oh shut up,” fake Kaldur scoffed. “look, you go back to the hero gig and that’s that, go find a new name and suit and city, don’t come back to Kabul, forget all of this.”</p>
<p>Dick stared at fake Kaldur, “what?”</p>
<p>“you heard,” he said, “or, you can prioritise your blood family, remain an assassin here in Nanda Parbat, but no more fraternising with the enemy. You go to the summit meeting and you leave with Ra’s.”</p>
<p>“what kind of choice is that?” Dick scowled.</p>
<p>“hey, there’s always option number three,” fake Kaldur shrugged, “not a hero? Not Renegade? Go be a civilian.”</p>
<p>“disgusting, never.”</p>
<p>“well then, two options. Unless you wanna be some random wanderer through the world stopping where you want with no direction.”</p>
<p>“who says?” Dick scoffed, “who made these rules? Who came up with these choices?”</p>
<p>Fake Kaldur made a face, “uh, you did?”</p>
<p>“no I didn’t.”</p>
<p>“yeah, ever time you worry over what to fucking do with your life it’s always like ‘help the heroes! No wait, I love my Family. stay with your family! no wait, I need to save the world’.” Kaldur was trying for an impression, but it was sightly too nasally and his body language was off, “You’re the one who’s sitting here saying you can’t be both, idiot.”</p>
<p>“yeah, well,” Dick scowled, “fuck you.”</p>
<p>“well,” fake Kaldur said, “choose one and move on.”</p>
<p>Dick stared at him. at the pieces of the room he was in. if he became the assassin would this mindscape become the palace? If he chose the hero gig would it become the manor? If he became a civilian would it morph into Haley’s circus? He didn’t know, couldn’t guess. He kind of didn’t want to. He didn’t understand his fake mental Guru, he liked the chaos. It was like a scrapbook, all the important and interesting and impactful parts of his life cut out of a magazine and taped together at the edges to make a picture. His life. His life, a mess, but it was kind of supposed to be. It was what he made of it. who needed the ideal glossy scrap book of perfectly aesthetic photos with filters and touch ups? Not him.</p>
<p>He preferred this stitched together amalgamation of everything he cared about. His family, his home(s), his history. Hell, even the court stuff was there, because he cared about it in a bad way. He didn’t care as in motherly figure, he cared as in it was important and he wouldn’t be who he was today without it. in the end, he probably wouldn’t give up his healing factor, it gave him an edge. As long as he didn’t let it control him.</p>
<p>“I can’t choose one,” Dick said.</p>
<p>“you have to.”</p>
<p>“I don’t.”</p>
<p>“you do.”</p>
<p>“I don’t.”</p>
<p>“you do!”</p>
<p>“I don’t!”</p>
<p>“yes!” fake Kaldur screamed, and his face cracked, the skin slowly turning to ash on the wind, peeling into the air in layers, “you do!”</p>
<p>Kaldur became Ra’s, then Cobb, then Canary. Slowly the layers were peeling away.</p>
<p>The room shook. The tent ceiling billowed, as if the pole had been taken away, and fell in on itself, the ceiling high enough that it was able to sag without reaching the top of Dick’s head. the pictures and paintings fell, crashing into the ground, old oil paint smudged along the carpet, the paint spreading into mould that slowly ate at the floor till it was dark and damp and gross.</p>
<p>Canary became Superman, superman became Bruce, Bruce became tiny Dick.</p>
<p>The windows cracked, splitting into fragments. The places outside filled over with water, dark, screaming to be let in.</p>
<p>“stop it!” Dick yelled at his younger self, “stop!”</p>
<p>“PICK!” he screeched, tears cascading down his cheeks, red under his eyes, nose dribbling, mouth twisted in a pout.</p>
<p>“stop this!” Dick screamed back, and he was quite sure his face was the same as his younger self as he stared at the slowly forming streams of water dripping in from the windows.</p>
<p>The big top ceiling ripped apart, torn to shreds. Water cascaded in over the sides of the walls, crashing against the floor like rocks. Dick clapped his hands over his ears watching as the water started to rise up his legs, lapping at his ankles.</p>
<p>“stop!” Dick tried once more to order his younger self.</p>
<p>“NO!” he screamed back.</p>
<p>“stop! PLEASE STOP THIS!”</p>
<p>“NO!”</p>
<p>Dick was shaking, watching hopelessly as the water rose up to his knees.</p>
<p>“I DON’T UNDERSTAND, I DON’T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING!”</p>
<p>“STOP THIS!”</p>
<p>“I CAN’T!”</p>
<p>“I DON’T UNDERSTAND!”</p>
<p>“STOP!”</p>
<p>Dick ran for his younger self, tackling him. he disappeared in his arms, Dick was left grabbing the yellow blanket he’d sat on, the water rushing over his head. he kicked for the surface but couldn’t find it, he jerked around looking for an escape, everything was dark. Bubbles appeared before his mouth as he breathed out. The pressure on his ears popped, he felt as if water were rushing in, bursting through his ears into his brain, up his nose, down his throat, into his lungs, his stomach, his heart, filling him up from the inside.</p>
<p>He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t breathe.</p>
<p>He tried anyway and cold water surged down his windpipe, cold, so cold, freezing and endlessly harsh.</p>
<p>He was dying. He would die in the endless black.</p>
<p>
  <em>“pick one.”</em>
</p>
<p>The voice whispered, echoing.</p>
<p>
  <em>“just pick a side, pick a path.”</em>
</p>
<p>He closed his eyes, fighting back a sob.</p>
<p>
  <em>“you’re running out of time.”</em>
</p>
<p>Dick sobbed, crying and holding himself in a ball, the water pressing against every side, every piece of skin was clung to by water.</p>
<p>It was his younger self’s voice. And Bruce’s. and Superman’s. and Canary’s. Cobb’s. ra’s.</p>
<p>And Kaldur’s.</p>
<p><em>“just pick,” </em>he said, voice at the edge of his vision, whispering against his ear, <em>“just pick.”</em></p>
<p>Dick sobbed. He wanted to. He wanted to be able to say he was a hero. He wanted to say he was an assassin. He wanted to pick one and move on. He wanted to say he was Renegade. He was Robin. He was Dick. He was Richard.</p>
<p>He wanted to say he’d pick which ever one meant he could be with Kaldur. He wanted to say he’d pick the one where he stayed with his family in Nanda Parbat. He wanted to pick the one where he made up with Wally and everyone else and could be friends with them again.</p>
<p>He wanted them all. He wanted all of them. Why did he have to pick?</p>
<p>
  <em>“You’re the one who’s sitting here saying you can’t be both.”</em>
</p>
<p>It was Kaldur’s voice, but this time it was Dick who was remembering it, not the echoes of expectations. This time he was trying to think of what the real Kaldur would say. What the real Alex would say. What the real Wally would say. What the real Artemis would say.</p>
<p>
  <em>“People can forgive and move on, you dummy.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Dick you should do whatever you want to, need to, to become who you want to be in life. It doesn’t matter who’s side, what country, which friends, I’ll always be here.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“stop worrying about having ‘betrayed’ the JLA, we can forgive and move on.”</em>
</p>
<p>Dick opened his eyes, staring at the endless black.</p>
<p>This wasn’t real, it wasn’t. everything he’d been told by this stupid hallucination was fake.</p>
<p>He remembered Kaldur’s mind scape.</p>
<p>“not real,” he said into the water, the mutter of sound against endless liquid all he heard.</p>
<p>“not real,” he repeated.</p>
<p>And he readied himself and took a deep breath.</p>
<p>He panicked, thrashing. Eyes blown wide. It felt so damn real, it felt like the pits all over again.</p>
<p>But it wasn’t real, it wasn’t real, it wasn’t real.</p>
<p>
  <em>He could see Cobb before him, could feel him slitting his throat, could feel the blood pooling past his skin onto the concrete.</em>
</p>
<p>No, he killed Cobb.</p>
<p>
  <em>He opened the box and it was a sunstone, Luthor’s little commentary, his remark. Dick was an assassin, a cut throat killer, nothing in him but the barbaric ability to kill another human.</em>
</p>
<p>No, he was not a monster.</p>
<p>
  <em>He was standing in that meeting, taking hits from Wally and Barbara, standing awkwardly. This was a whole new world.</em>
</p>
<p>It didn’t matter.</p>
<p>Dick took another breath and this time there was no choke, no feel of water in his lungs, no panic. He breathed out and there were no bubbles.</p>
<p>“it’s not real,” Dick said, voice stronger, staring into the dark, “It’s <em>not real</em>.”</p>
<p>The water disappeared, the dark receded, Dick crashed onto the floor, sputtering and gasping for breath, clothes sodden.</p>
<p>He stood, staring at the sagging, torn big top.</p>
<p>“I choose my life!” he shouted, waiting for his hallucinated friend, “I choose what I want! I want my family, my friends! I want to save the people around me!” he turned around in a circle, waiting for someone to turn against him.</p>
<p>“I choose what I want!” Dick shouted, and the words echoed around in the building, “and that’s just life isn’t it!” he raised his arms and dropped them, letting them slap against his thighs, “that’s just how the world works,” he said, smiling, “it’s just a bunch of humans fighting for what they want, succeeding in varying degrees.”</p>
<p>“you can’t,” came the smallest voice, a tiny little peep of worry.</p>
<p>“I can,” Dick said, “to hell with the consequences, I want my life and I want to live it my way,” he hissed, “no more sticking my head in the sand and doing what’s expected of me.”</p>
<p>His sopping wet clothes dried, the windows righted themselves, the ceiling became fixed. The dark and the cracks and the dust and the shadows disappeared. The floor was new, bright, the manor walls just as perfect. The pictures and paintings were a mix of his life, a scrapbook, a mess.</p>
<p>Just how he liked it, just how he wanted it.</p>
<p>“but what will you do?” whispered that voice, growing ever quieter.</p>
<p>Dick glared into the distance, imagining that voice being squashed beneath his boot, hidden away in the smallest painting, infinitely halved till it became almost nothing.</p>
<p>“I’m gonna save people,” Dick said, shrugging, “I’m gonna make small differences, I’m gonna live my life.” He smiled at the paintings and pictures, “I’ll keep my family, thanks, and I’ll make up with Wally and Barbara and everyone else, and I’ll chase Kaldur down and ask him for another kiss, because I’m gonna do what I want with my life, cause it’s <em>mine</em>.”</p>
<p>Dick squared his jaw, took a deep breath, “it always will be.”</p>
<p>And he yanked himself into the land of consciousness.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He woke up in his room, shooting up to a sitting position and breathing deeply, staring at his sheets before him in shock.</p>
<p>“wow there, tiger!” Alex laughed, pushing him back down, “get the light show in your eyes under control, take a breath, then sit up.”</p>
<p>Dick took a deep breath, he felt his shock slowly slip away and with it his electrum, which had activated in his Lazarus induced panic. He sat up.</p>
<p>“how you feeling?” Alex asked, “want a glass of water?”</p>
<p>“I’m good,” Dick laughed, swinging out of bed.</p>
<p>“wow, someone’s chipper,” she said, eyebrows raised.</p>
<p>“had some enlightenments?” Ra’s asked.</p>
<p>Dick looked over at him, sitting on one of the chairs in the centre of the room, “that’s one way to say it.”</p>
<p>He smiled and nodded, “good,” he said, and stood up, “I would like it to be known that I will fulfill the favour your hero friends have asked for.”</p>
<p>Alex stared, gaping in shock. Dick smiled, laughing. He ran over and enveloped Ra’s in a hug. Alex continued to gape, jaw hitting the ground.</p>
<p>Dick broke the hug, "what made you?”</p>
<p>“something you said, in your little rant,” Ra’s said “about the excuse I used. ‘it’s a coward’s way out, it’s what you say when you can’t be bothered to dig in and get to work,’ I find myself agreeing.”</p>
<p>“you… said that?” Alex asked, staring, she turned to Ra’s, “he <em>said that?</em>”</p>
<p>Dick laughed, “I got angry.”</p>
<p>“yes,” Ra’s said, “you’re lucky you’re family or you’d be in holding over night for that.”</p>
<p>Alex rolled her eyes, “right, cause we’re such a dictatorship.”</p>
<p>“I mean, it’s technically a monarchy-“</p>
<p>“shut up, Dick.”</p>
<p>As the two siblings laughed Ra’s rolled his shoulders and moved towards the door.</p>
<p>“I’ll tell Thalia and Damian you’ve woken, they got worried after the fifth hour.”</p>
<p>“wait, what?” Dick asked, turning from Ra’s as he left the room, “how long was I out?”</p>
<p>“uh, a good day and a half,” Alex shrugged.</p>
<p>“that explains why I’m so hungry,” Dick said.</p>
<p>Alex smiled and stood, “well I can fix that, come on.”</p>
<p>“oh hell yeah, can we break into the liquor cabinet?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<h2>
<a id="_Toc51932419" name="_Toc51932419"></a>Summit</h2>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>It felt a bit blurry at the edges.</p>
<p>They’ve all had missions before, even Ra’s before he was the demon head and was just ‘the son of’ or ‘the heir to’. They’ve all been through this thousands of times.</p>
<p>They walk through the halls, brisk, no fuss. They are fixing cuffs on shirts, righting collars. They are strapping on grieves, pulling on armouring, tossing on hoods. There is an old juke box in one of the rooms they walk past and they almost feel as if they could turn it on and sweep through room to room while Run Boy Run plays in the background. As it is, they flick to and from, loading themselves with weapons, sharpening daggers, coiling bolas, strapping on gear. It is a bit like a ceremony, one that is repeated every time.</p>
<p>It is a bit like a blessing, almost. All that’s missing is the muttering of words. a word of faith as a sword is sheathed, the whine of metal against metal a different kind of choir. The smell of leather sheaths and oiled blades. The faint tinge of Lazarus on Ra’s skin as he drapes himself in his green and gold robes.</p>
<p>The floors of the weapons rooms are well cleaned but also well worn. Like the wooden floors of a grandparents house, varnished and polished and taken pride in, but also dented and rubbed away at with the years of family gatherings. There aren’t fingerprints on weapons or traces of natural oils from skin, these weapons are cared for, perfectly cleaned and maintained. But there are filled scratches in wooden handles, blades sharpened so many times they are growing thinner. There are perfectly moulded calluses that fit the blades into practiced hands, there are clasps on pommels bent slightly out of shape from the many times they’ve been struck across people’s heads.</p>
<p>There are gold candle sticks on the mantle below a mirror, used to ensure everything is in its place. It takes effort to become bristling with weapons, it takes time. One does not simply wake up and walk out the door comfortably carrying a small armoury on their person.</p>
<p>But once they are done preparing they meet together in the halls, walking through their palace as if they were messengers from a death god. They stalk through the shadows, silent.</p>
<p>There is only calm in their heads, there must be if they are to succeed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dick did not like Santa Prisca. Although, he was <em>very </em>biased.</p>
<p>But, it did not come down to what he preferred when picking the location of the summit meeting, so he just had to suck it up.</p>
<p>The lighting was dim, white bulbs on steel stands that ran along the pathways. The whole tunnel system seemed to once have been mines, but that must have been a long time ago. Bane must have kept the place up to scratch for escapes and hiding because it was only as dark, dusty and dank as one would expect a cave to be. At least there were no dead bodies, Dick might have actually thrown in the towel and left if it was gross.</p>
<p>Deathstroke went ahead, seeing as he was the Light’s enforcer. He would meet Black Beetle, ensure the area was safe and then they would join. Ra’s had at first been against bringing anyone other than Dick and Alex, but when they realised the amount of security the Reach was bringing he stopped arguing. Thalia had come and Jason as well. If the Reach wanted to bring a small army they’d meet them in arms.</p>
<p>They crept out, filing into lines of defence, Savage face to face with the Ambassador.</p>
<p>“please,” said ambassador smiled, “we are meeting as comrades, are we not? Let us do away with the masks.”</p>
<p>The light looked between themselves. Ra’s gave Dick and Alex a discreet nod and they dropped their hoods, Jason removed his mask. Before Savage said anything Slade followed suit, and Savage seemed annoyed for a moment at the small sign of his true loyalties.</p>
<p>Manta grunted, clearly frustrated, but he removed his helmet. As did Kaldur, then Artemis clipped her mask to her belt. Dick saw her lips move as she muttered something. Likely the sentence ‘we’re in over our heads’, Dick wasn’t great at reading lips from long distances but he shared a similar sentiment.</p>
<p>“excellent,” Ambassador said, smiling, “then with the technicalities out of the way…”</p>
<p>Savage smiled, “let us begin.”</p>
<p>Dick shared a look with Alex, she gave him the smallest of nods. He took a deep breath. They could do this.</p>
<p>“now,” the ambassador began, “I know you called this Summit, but the Reach comes with grievances against the Light.”</p>
<p>“do not hesitate to air them,” Savage said, if only to feel the power of having suggested the Ambassador needed his permission to do so. Dick didn’t like Savage much and his small little parlour tricks of power were a large reason why.</p>
<p>“please explain,” the Ambassador began, clearly holding back annoyance, “why the young Earth champions were allowed access to the Bialyan Scarab Temple under <em>your control.</em>”</p>
<p>Dick fought the urge not to roll his eyes.</p>
<p>“If I may respond?” Kaldur said, stepping forward.</p>
<p>Dick fought back a smile, Kaldur just couldn’t help ruffling feathers, could he? If he was honest it was probably one of the qualities Dick liked most. He shut that thought down quickly.</p>
<p>“no you may not,” Black Beetle scowled, “Manta, keep your whelp meat silent.”</p>
<p>“beetle,” Manta began, incapable of feigning a polite attitude, “your insolence grows progressively less… charming.”</p>
<p>Dick almost snorted, almost. He stopped himself from catching Alex’s eye because then he would definitely smile.</p>
<p>“I told you I wanted to study how blue beetle’s scarab had faltered during the crash <em>prior </em>to putting it back on mode, if you had followed my advice we would have known about the temple and-“ the scientist stuttered near the end, catching the glare the Ambassador was giving her, “apologies, ambassador, I spoke out of turn.”</p>
<p>“no, my dear,” Manta said, “you are quite correct to call your master’s tactics into question.” His voice was calm, controlled, like a politician,  “the Light has provided <em>everything </em>the reach required, and you aliens have let it all slip away.”</p>
<p>It seemed almost as if Manta was going to push the reach into conflict without any help at all.</p>
<p>“I don’t believe this is a productive direction for our discussion,” Ambassador said, voice taught, as if he were physically biting down on the order to shoot Manta on the spot.</p>
<p>“your public approval ratings are at a record low,” Ra’s said, a hint of charm in his tone, “as are your sales of the reach drink.”</p>
<p>“remember,” the ambassador said, and Dick could hear his temper running thin, “the earth is now the property of the reach, and per our original agreement, the light is merely our favoured allies amongst the humans.”</p>
<p>“show the proper respect or suffer the consequences,” beetle drawled.</p>
<p>“no agreement exists that makes a slave of Black Manta!”</p>
<p>Dick’s eyebrows shot up, staring as Manta marched forward, scowling.</p>
<p>“no agreement exists that guarantees the life of Black manta,” Beetle scowled.</p>
<p>“Manta guarantees that himself!”</p>
<p>Manta’s turret rose from his shoulder, whining as it readied to fire. Beetle’s plasma canon emerged from his chest. They stared, daring each other to make the first move.</p>
<p>“it seems we have a stand-off,” Ra’s said, and Alex and Dick recognised the warning. Their hands drifted to their blades. Slade followed suit.</p>
<p>“no, we don’t.”</p>
<p>Beetle backhanded Manta across the floor. Where he’d stood, Artemis and Deathstroke fell into place, weapons drawn and ready. They attacked, twisting around beetle and making hits before he could attack them, moving out of the way before he could grab them. Dick glanced at a particular soldier across the room.</p>
<p>Alex looked to Ra’s, one eyebrow raised. Ra’s nodded. Alex drew her sword and joined the fight.</p>
<p>In the empty place she’d stood, Artemis drew closer. The reach’s back up began firing and she blocked a bolt with her blade that was on its way to Ra’s, she stumbled into him.</p>
<p>“apologies, great one,” she said, with a glance down at her necklace.</p>
<p>“none necessary, child,” he assured, also looking at the necklace, “you have my thanks.”</p>
<p>As Artemis re-joined the fight Ra’s gave Dick a look, as if to ask, ‘is that the charm?’ Dick nodded, everything was settling into place.</p>
<p>“join them,” Ra’s said, gesturing to the fighting, Dick drew his sword and leapt in. Thalia took out a blade and stood in front of her father in case he needed assistance.</p>
<p>Tigress danced between the bolts fired by the reach soldiers, firing her crossbow into heir ranks. The bolt exploded into a foam that solidified, trapping them. Deathstroke weaved between Beatle’s attacks, Dick joining him in the dance of evading the blows. Every time Beetle moved to attack one he was left open to the other. Beetle turned his arm into a blade to use against the two and they danced around, eventually vaulting away from Beetle’s wide arcs and frenzied movements.</p>
<p>Manta raced forward to attack, but before he could get into the thick of it Kaldur rushed in, breaking the two apart.</p>
<p>“enough!” he stood between them, knowing Manta wouldn’t hurt him and Beetle wouldn’t run the risk of infuriating Manta more and pushing this battle into chaos… just yet, “we are allies, not enemies. Any conflict between us only benefits our true allies, the Justice League and their <em>side kicks</em>.”</p>
<p>Dick had to hand it to Kaldur, whatever side he was on (whether he truly was on it) he was always the best at being the voice of reason.</p>
<p>“Kaldur’Ahm is correct,” Savage said, stepping forward and attempting to bring the meeting back under his control.</p>
<p>“agreed,” the ambassador said, ever ready to rise to the occasion of pretending to be a level headed leader, “we must not allow these petty disagreements to drive a wedge between us.”</p>
<p>“ambassador,” Beetle grumbled, his arm still ready to fire.</p>
<p>“stand <em>down</em>, Beetle,” Ambassador ordered, teeth gritted.</p>
<p>Beetle scowled but turned away, letting out his frustration by blasting the solid foam holding the reach soldiers captive.</p>
<p>“should we not be more concerned that Superman, Batman, the Lanterns and the rest will soon return to Earth and again sway public opinion to their side,” Kaldur suggested.</p>
<p>“those accused will never leave Rimbor,” Savage said, slowly going into a monologue explaining how the bribing of the court would make that quite impossible.</p>
<p>“and the green lantern Corp are forbidden from stepping foot on this planet,” the ambassador said, seemingly just as adept at monologuing. It was amazing how easy it was to get villains to say what you want, if you put the time into guiding them in the right direction.</p>
<p>However, now that the information was being divulged it was time for the trap to be sprung.</p>
<p>Ra’s slowly moved into the role of confused interest, frowning at Artemis from across the room. Dick had to hand it to him, if he didn’t know what was going on he’d be completely fooled.</p>
<p>“in order to discredit them… again…” the ambassador trailed off, staring as Ra’s walked over to Artemis. Dick tensed.</p>
<p>“great one?” she asked, frowning, confused.</p>
<p>Time seemed to slow as his hand grasped the necklace. It looked as if it wanted to be removed, the charm falling apart at the seams as Ra’s pulled it from her neck. Only the smallest piece of ribbon remained hanging from the charm as Artemis gasped and stared. Dick watched, wide eyed, forcing the tension and worry about how this summit would go to flow into his act.</p>
<p>The air around Artemis seemed to flutter or waver, like it was thickening and swirling. And then the features changed, the light seemed to shift, move a bit to the left, the painting was twisted to level. Tigress became Artemis, shocked and gaping, terrified at being found. And Kaldur was just as good at the act.</p>
<p>“Artemis,” Savage scowled, glaring at her.</p>
<p>“but…” the ambassador stared, “Kaldur’Ahm killed Artemis.”</p>
<p>The air was thick with tension. Alex stepped closer to Thalia, Dick’s hand trailed to his sword. All the weapons in the room seemed to gleam, at the ready for use, waiting for the bloodshed.</p>
<p>“which means…” the Ambassador trailed.</p>
<p>“Aqualad duped them all,” Beetle grinned, “including his own father.”</p>
<p>All eyes moved to Manta, Kaldur still standing between him and Beetle. Manta was… well, he almost looked like Kaldur had while catatonic. Beetle was laughing, Kaldur looked very much like he found nothing amusing.</p>
<p>Ambassador sighed, “kill them both.”</p>
<p>Beetle drew forth his blades, Manta raced forward.</p>
<p>“no one touches my son!”</p>
<p>Kaldur seemed genuinely shocked at the statement, blinking at his father in surprise. After all that deceit Manta still refused for anyone to kill him? maybe the truth hadn’t sunk in just yet.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, two bullets were fired, the bang echoing through the caves.</p>
<p>Kaldur shuddered and fell, his father catching him. Artemis fell as well, straight onto the floor, Dick almost winced.</p>
<p>“the light takes care of its own,” Deathstroke said, holstering his pistol.</p>
<p>There seemed to be an intake of breath, a moment where everyone waited for the next move, the next surprise. The world halted.</p>
<p>“Kaldur,” Manta said, staring in shock.</p>
<p>“It’s too late father,” Kaldur said, smiling, “I have already… won.”</p>
<p>His arm dropped, and in it a device beeped. As Kaldur let out his last breath a hologram of him appeared, ready to kick off the true shitstorm of the evening. Dick stalked close to Ra’s, ready for the chaos.</p>
<p>“if you are watching this, your summit is truly over,” the hologram said, “the light and the reach deserve each other. Both sides play at being partners, But the Reach believes the Light to be their naive tools of conquest, when in fact the Light has manipulated the Reach from day one.”</p>
<p>“shut. This. <em>Off</em>.” Savage ordered Deathstroke.</p>
<p>“how?” Deathstroke asked, frowning.</p>
<p>“It was the Light that brought Earth to the Reach's attention by sending the Justice League to Rimbor.” Dick didn’t like the hologram, watching it made him feel a little sick. He had thought he’d be unaffected, but watching Kaldur fake die was a bit more realistic than he had expected it to be, “The Light set their trap, and the Reach snapped at the bait, fulfilling the Light's desire to thrust our world into the galactic spotlight.”</p>
<p>Dick let out a deep breath, giving Alex a look. It was almost go time. Almost.</p>
<p>Kaldur’s monologue continued, clear and concise but still emotive. Dick didn’t know how but Kaldur always managed to toe that line. He went through all the evidence, leaving no possibility for truce behind.</p>
<p>“So, you see, any agenda either side imagined they shared was nothing but a carefully crafted illusion. I trust I have shattered that illusion, as well as whatever remains of this sorry alliance.” The hologram’s field of vision changed, looking down at the device that had turned it on, but to the audience it was almost as if Kaldur’s ghost was speaking to his father, “Good night.”</p>
<p>“Kaldur,” Manta whispered, looking back at his not actually dying son, “what have you done?”</p>
<p>“He has in death done more to damage my plans than any living creature has wrought in 50,000 years.” Savage scowled, “I'd be impressed if I wasn't so-“</p>
<p>The ambassador cut him off with a rage filled yell, eyes wild.</p>
<p>“You earthlings are a pestilence and a plague! You dare sabotage us?! Dare betray US?!” he was scowling, face contorting on itself as if the sheer amount of anger he was experiencing were enough to shift his own appearance, “Have you forgotten who controls the War World? The Light is fortunate that we do not carve up your planet as we speak!”</p>
<p>Okay, it was go time.</p>
<p>“that would indeed impress,” Savage grinned, “as I have the War World’s  crystal key.”</p>
<p>“that was all I needed to know.”</p>
<p>The room’s inhabitants froze, heads turning on their joints to Kaldur, sitting up from his father’s arms and smirking.</p>
<p>“Kaldur… you’re-“</p>
<p>“alive, yes.”</p>
<p>Dick couldn’t fight the smirk anymore, which was good because now was about the time where it no longer mattered.</p>
<p>“if you would, great one?” Artemis asked, smiling. Before Ra’s could extend a hand out of practiced courtesy, Dick got in and helped her to her feet.</p>
<p>“impossible,” Savage stared, “Deathstroke killed you both.”</p>
<p>“only for a little while,” Deathstroke drawled, eyes glowing green as a sword floated to Savage’s throat, “after all I wouldn’t want to do any permanent damage…” the disguise shifted, M’Gann grinned, “to my best friend. Not when a little misdirection and Hollywood special effects will do it instead.”</p>
<p>“for we value our true friends, and unlike you,” Kaldur said, moving to stand away from his father as M’Gann joined his side, “we are not short on them.”</p>
<p>Dick grinned watching as heroes appeared from the shadows, springing up like daisies. Superboy jumped in with his usual weight, Guardian running alongside. Batgirl and Robin sprung in, Wally dressed in silver and Magenta with them.</p>
<p>“hey there, Vendy,” he grinned, waving, “miss me?”</p>
<p>Bumblebee flew in, Sphere rolled. Dick drew a sword and twirled it absentmindedly in his hand, Jason and Alex following suit. With the attention away from them it almost seemed as if they were merely readying for an attack, the reveals hadn’t quite sunk into the Light just yet.</p>
<p>“well played, but the light always has contingencies.”</p>
<p>Assassins piled in, some vague ones the light had brought in, but the majority were members of the league of assassins. Savage expected them to be pawns, he was about to be surprised. The minority drew weapons and turned to the heroes, readying for the fight. but the majority remained at attention, scattered throughout the room.</p>
<p>And, of course, the ambassador waved a hand and more reach troops marched in.</p>
<p>“I've had my fill of your interference. Do not expect to survive.” Savage glared, spit splattering on his chin as he threw threats, “Kill them all. Superboy may present a problem, but we'll deal with him when the other children lie bleeding on the ground.”</p>
<p>“still you refer to us as children,” Kaldur said, expression not wavering. By now Savage should have guessed that not all cards were on the table. “No wonder our successes mount. You consistently underestimate us.”</p>
<p>Blue Beetle removed his mask, flying up and readying his weapons, shooting into the crowd of Reach soldiers. Lagoon Boy tore apart the disguise with a yell and began punching at the enemy, Beast Boy taking a very similar approach. Impulse ran in, Wonder Girl tore off her mask and flew above the chaos, lasso at the ready.</p>
<p>And every single member of the league of assassins drew their weapons on the Light.</p>
<p>“Ra’s!” Savage roared, stabbing a finger in the man’s direction and stalking forward, forgetting the blade pointed at him for a moment, “your men commit mutiny!”</p>
<p>“no!” Ra’s said, grinning, “they take orders!”</p>
<p>Alex rushed forward at Savage, past the blade M’Gann held at him, ready for a fight.</p>
<p>Thalia drew her weapons and attacked. Slade revealed himself from his place, disguised as any other assassin, jumping into the battle guns blazing and sword shining.</p>
<p>“you will regret this!” Savage hissed, “we have underestimated these young heroes for too long, but no more.” His ring glowed, Klarion emerged, “it is time.”</p>
<p>Klarion bewitched the sword to become a snake, which attacked M’Gann without delay. Alex moved in but Klarion waved a hand and she was sent hurtling into a stalagmite. He clicked his fingers and a boom tube opened up, swallowing them on the spot. Dick sprinted for his sister, for a moment forgetting to stay by Ra’s side and choosing a priority.</p>
<p>“I’m fine,” she groaned, already starting to stand.</p>
<p>“cowardly meat!” Black Beetle roared, and they whipped their heads to him.</p>
<p>He stalked forward, a blade appearing form his hand. Dick went wide eyed, running to intercept, Alex behind him, stumbling a little as she worked off the dizziness.</p>
<p>Beetle stabbed Ra’s, the sword protruding from his chest without any issue, sharp and gleaming, dripping in his blood. He pulled the blade out, turning to the ambassador to protect them from attack.</p>
<p>Dick caught Ra’s as he fell.</p>
<p>“I have to get to the pits,” Ra’s grunted, “call the ship.”</p>
<p>Dick nodded, looking at the wound. Nanda Parbat was so far away they didn’t have time…</p>
<p>Ubu raced over, Dick had almost forgotten he was there at all.</p>
<p>“I will take him,” he said, reaching for Ra’s, worry clear across his face.</p>
<p>“not yet,” Dick said, reaching for something in his belt.</p>
<p>“he will die if we don’t-“</p>
<p>“I know!” Dick cut in, pulling out the vial, “this will give you a better chance.”</p>
<p>He pulled the cap off, painfully aware that no one was watching his back, he readied it in his hand-</p>
<p>And a bullet tore through his side.</p>
<p>He yelped, curling on himself. Ubu whipped around to the reach soldier who’d fired and launched himself into the attack, he didn’t have to say that he would stop it from happening again.</p>
<p>Dick let the electrum in without hesitation, it started working at the wound but he knew it wouldn’t be enough. Thre was a clean burn in his side, straight through, maybe an inch thick, his blood was pooling, adrenaline kicking in.</p>
<p>“you need this more than me,” Ra’s said, wrapping his hands around Dick’s.</p>
<p>“no,” Dick said, “you have a… whole stab wound in you,” Dick grunted past the pain.</p>
<p>“Thalia and Ubu will take me home…” Ra’s said, breathing deep, he was probably only capable of being so verbal thanks to his prior experiences of being stabbed, “I’ll be fine.”</p>
<p>“I-“</p>
<p>“you still can’t face it,” Ra’s said, “a dip wasn’t enough?”</p>
<p>Dick laughed, “apologies for being <em>averse</em>.” He winced.</p>
<p>“I can’t… do it for you… this time.”</p>
<p>Alex rushed over, Thalia with her. Before they could get eyes on what was happening Ra’s guided the syringe down, hidden in the shadows where they wouldn’t immediately see it, then let his hands drop.</p>
<p>Dick took a breath, “get him home,” he said, “I need to stay here.”</p>
<p>“of course,” Thalia said, quickly, “Alex, come on.”</p>
<p>“I’m staying,” she said.</p>
<p>“you have a concussion, and you’re his guard, you’re coming,” Thalia ordered.</p>
<p>As Thalia took Ra’s from Dick he readied himself, hands on the syringe. He plunged it in, pushed down, no wince, it wasn’t the pain he was worried about.</p>
<p>There was no hallucination, no mind scape this time. He took a deep breath, seeing images before his eyes of Cobb, the Talons, explosions, the pits.</p>
<p>He glanced up, Alex caught sight of the wound in his side, finally noticing why his eyes were yellow and green.</p>
<p>As Dick met her eye he smiled. He was going to be perfectly fine.</p>
<p>He stood, and as he did so the wound finished healing.</p>
<p>Ubu was done smashing things, Thalia had already called Duvall, who was waiting for extraction, the ceiling opened up, a helicopter waiting. She nodded to Dick, “last chance.”</p>
<p>“go!” Dick said, smiling, “call me when he’s healed.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Wally had to admit, he kinda missed when the hero thing was a group deal.</p>
<p>Also, Bart was cool. Wally supposed the one benefit of Zoom’s attack was that he was now faster, which meant Bart wasn’t spending the fight lapping him like Flash used to. The idea that there was a plus side to what Zoom had done to him seemed insane, but Wally supposed all things had a silver lining, eventually, if one was willing to sew it themselves.</p>
<p>“hey, hey, hey, pretty crash, huh? Taking down the big guys,” Impulse grinned, running alongside him.</p>
<p>“yeah,” Wally said, smiling back, “but I always envisioned you doing it in something a bit more… yellow and red?”</p>
<p>Impulses jaw dropped, “seriously? But Kid Flash hasn’t been in the game for-“</p>
<p>“a while, I know,” Wally did his best at shrugging when running as fast as he was, “but Barry’s got twins on the way, according to you, I think he’ll want his trusty helper back, and I’d be more than happy to give my blessing.”</p>
<p>“dude, that is so, totally, crash!” Bart grinned, laughing, jumping around as he ran, “I’m gonna make you proud, okay, just watch!”</p>
<p>“sure thing, kid, but maybe let’s start with taking down the big guys.”</p>
<p>“you got it, watch, I’m on it!”</p>
<p>Bart cackled, speeding up, zooming around The Brain and confiscating all his weapons. He laughed like a madman and Wally almost thought of taking the offer back, if only because Bart looked mad with power.</p>
<p>He sped over to Artemis.</p>
<p>“so, hey, I was thinking, when we’re no longer worrying about saving the world, you, me,” he grinned, back to back with Artemis, talking over his shoulder with the enemy surrounding them from all sides, “dinner?”</p>
<p>“what?” Artemis stared, frowning at him over her shoulder, “I thought you were gay?”</p>
<p>“dude, pansexuality is a thing!” he said, feigning insult, “why do you think I like yellow, magenta and blue so much?”</p>
<p>“it’s pink, dummy.”</p>
<p>“yeah, whatever.” He grinned, laughing, not really caring that much, “so is that a yes, or?”</p>
<p>Artemis sighed, “I don’t know, Zatanna had a similar thought.”</p>
<p>“oh, I see, you’re just trying to get me to be desperate so you can get off on me trying to flirt frantically for you, wow,” Wally smiled, “you know what, downgraded, now the offer is merely coffee on the way to a mission debrief.”</p>
<p>Artemis fake gasped, “how cruel of you! Perhaps we will have to finish battling these reach soldiers so I may decide if it is worth fighting for your original offer once more!”</p>
<p>“perhaps,” Wally laughed, launching back into the fight.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dick was twisting between the attackers with practiced ease, he had to admit he hadn’t had this much fun in a while. It put his life in a strange kind of perspective, but he wasn’t entirely surprised.</p>
<p>As he moved from one reach soldier to another he noticed a shadow, he turned to block the attack but before he could someone else did it for him.</p>
<p>Batgirl launched in on his right, Robin his left. Dick grinned and finished taking down the soldier in front of him, then turned to Barbara.</p>
<p>“fancy seeing you here,” he grinned.</p>
<p>She smiled back, “what’s a nice guy like you doing in a place like this?”</p>
<p>Dick shrugged, “hey, you can’t say it’s not an entertaining event.”</p>
<p>He dodged a hit, twisting as Batgirl’s attention was taken by another soldier, they fought back to back. Dick blocked a hit and threw one back, sweeping the legs of the reach soldiers. He turned to another, kneeing them in the gut and hitting down with his escrima sticks.</p>
<p>As he turned he came face to face with Robin, holding a Bo staff.</p>
<p>“uh, nice to finally meet you,” Robin said, smiling awkwardly.</p>
<p>“feeling’s mutual,” he smiled back, “I like the new design.”</p>
<p>“thanks,” he grinned.</p>
<p>Jason came barrelling in, hitting away two reach soldiers that were attempting to sneak up on them.</p>
<p>“oh, and there’s the other one,” Dick said, nodding over to Jason, “he’s got anger issues, don’t take things too personally.”</p>
<p>“what?” Robin asked, frowning.</p>
<p>“are you two gonna stand around talking all day?” Jay scowled.</p>
<p>“yeah,” Barbara turned around, “get to it.”</p>
<p>“our pleasure,” Dick laughed, turning back to the fight. all four did, unconsciously creating a ring, back to back, side by side, they faced the battle. All the batkids (so far) on the battlefield together, ready to kick some ass.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Ignorant boy!” Manta roared, staring Kaldur down, “This is not a world, a universe, in which a free man can afford to be soft!”</p>
<p>Kaldur smiled back, unwilling to meet his father’s anger with his own.</p>
<p>“you think all emotion other than anger is weakness,” Kaldur said, holding back a scoff, “you think the only way to lead is through force. I must apologise father,” Kaldur said, “for I have succeeded your example by learning it to be faulty.”</p>
<p>“your hero friends cannot win, so long as they allow themselves to be compromised,” Manta sneered, “your kindness makes you weak.”</p>
<p>“it makes me strong,” Kaldur said, chin up as he stared at his father, “in ways you cannot imagine.”</p>
<p>“I will teach you to be ruthless, Kaldur'Ahm,” Manta said, fists clenched as he readied himself to battle. He would drag Kaldur back to his ship unconscious if he had to, “even if I must beat that lesson into your skull!”</p>
<p>Kaldur jumped out of the way of the laser-beam he had been expecting, gripping his water bearers as his magic thrummed through him, his arms felt warm as his tattoos glowed under the armour.</p>
<p>He sent waves towards Manta, moving between his father’s attempts at attacking. As he dodged another beam he gathered the water into a giant fist that rose up and bore down on his father. Manta dodged at the last second, readying to send another beam, but was met with emptiness. As the fist had rose Kaldur had as well, forming several eels of water that he now sent down at his father. Manta shot several, his laser-beam disintegrating them, but one landed and he stumbled back. Kaldur hit the ground, his water bearers becoming a mace that he gripped with both hands. He gave a war cry as he brought the mace up, hitting his father so hard that his helmet went flying and he stumbled backwards, falling into the water, unconscious.</p>
<p>Kaldur took a deep breath, staring down at him as droplets of glowing water fell from the air, the last remnants of his magical attacks. His tattoos faded and the water slowly began to still.</p>
<p>He looked around at the battle, his friends and allies still standing, the enemy either gone or lying unconscious on the ground. He could see them beginning to regroup amongst themselves, identifying wounds, checking on each other.</p>
<p>It was over.</p>
<p>They had won.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The last time Dick had been on Santa Prisca he had also been fighting the Light, but there were only six team members at the time and the fight had had smaller consequences on it. if they lost it would be less world-damning, more vaguely annoying.</p>
<p>He had found the place that fight had happened. Was staring at the tree line around the small clearing. If he really stretched his memory muscles he could imagine his team mates and the light members, standing around. there was a creek somewhere nearby and he could just faintly hear the sound of water trickling, it must have rained recently.</p>
<p>The moon was high in the sky above, startlingly white. He could see a few stars but the moon was to bright for most to be visible.</p>
<p>Jason was back with he rest of the assassins, waiting on Duvall to return. Dick trusted him to call when they were leaving, he could take the liberty of disappearing for a while.</p>
<p>There was the sound of a twig snapping, branches being moved. Whoever was coming wasn’t trying to sneak up on him, likely they were attempting to let him know they were coming so he wasn’t startled.</p>
<p>“I thought you might come here,” Wally said, standing next to him.</p>
<p>“six years,” Dick said, staring at the very tree he had hid behind, “I can’t tell if that seems too little or too long.”</p>
<p>“too little,” Wally said, “way too little.” He rubbed at his face, “I was <em>seventeen</em>,” he said, as if he didn’t believe it.</p>
<p>“we all were at some point,” Dick tried to joke, attempting at a smile. It fell flat, “look… I don’t know how to… well, <em>fix </em>things-“</p>
<p>Wally sighed, shaking his head, “god you really haven’t changed, huh.”</p>
<p>“what?” Dick asked, frowning at Wally standing next to him. he could see the scar, peeking out past the mask, that he’d had a chance to view completely at the meeting not long ago. Dick had almost thrown up at the sight of it, almost ran away. He was like a deer in headlights then, he wasn’t much better now.</p>
<p>“every time you’re presented with some form of issue you spring at the chance to fix it,” Wally said, smiling, “has it occurred to you that sometimes it’s not your responsibility to clean up everyone else’s mess?”</p>
<p>“okay, but this time it is my problem, I’m the one who ran off,” Dick snorted, “I remember it, you were trying to talk to me, I dropped a smoke bomb in your face and scurried away.”</p>
<p>“you remember it differently from me,” Wally said, “looking back through my eyes I was less talking, more accusing.”</p>
<p>“I had just shot a man.”</p>
<p>“who killed your parents and was about to kill you if he could,” Wally said, “it was technically self-defence and I was too emotional to take a step back and look at it from your point of view. I was only thinking about myself, I didn’t stop to think about what you were going through and I drove you away.” He held a finger in his face, “doesn’t give reason for <em>six years</em>, but it puts it into perspective.”</p>
<p>Dick stared, confused, “are you… forgiving me?”</p>
<p>“I’m… making the choice to forgive,” Wally said, “in a purpose sense. My knee jerk is still kinda mad and I’m a bit petty and spiteful, you know, fun stuff,” he said, grinning, “but I will not be glaring and avoiding you if I can help it.” he shrugged, “don’t get me wrong, I need time-“</p>
<p>“no, yeah, I get it,” Dick said, nodding, “just like, if there’s anything I can do-“</p>
<p>“quit while you’re ahead.”</p>
<p>“hey, can’t I at least take <em>some</em> responsibility?”</p>
<p>“no, stop it, take a damn break for once in your life,” Wally sighed, “god, this is why it’s hard to be mad at you, you just make googly eyes and ask how you can help.”</p>
<p>“I do not!”</p>
<p>“you <em>do</em>, it’s annoying, stop it,” Wally pouted, “let me be mad at you damn it.”</p>
<p>Dick snorted, “no promises.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<h2>
<a id="_Toc51932420" name="_Toc51932420"></a>Endgame</h2>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I just want you to know I’m sorry about everything,” M’Gann said, looking over to Conner standing next to her, “What went wrong with our relationship was all my fault.”</p>
<p>Conner made no move to stop her or, god forbid, contradict her, so she forged on.</p>
<p>“and I know it’s too late now, I know you’re dating Wendy Harris-“</p>
<p>“what?” Conner turned to her, frowning, “me and Wendy? Dating? Uh, no.”</p>
<p>M’Gann stared, confused.</p>
<p>“believe it or not she’s started dating Marvin,” Conner smiled, and M’Gann was perfectly fine with her momentary embarrassment purely because Conner earned a moment of relaxed amusement, “he’s a little worried he’ll mess it up and she’s a little worried he’s right, so I’ve sorta been a bit of, I don’t know…” he cocked his head in thought, it was adorable, “a buffer?”</p>
<p>“a… buffer?” M’Gann asked, not quite believing it, “that’s great! I mean… that’s so nice of you.”</p>
<p>They heard the clearing of throats and shuffling of papers and turned to the judges. They were finally going to tell them whether they had made a difference or just made themselves look like idiots.</p>
<p>“we have heard your unorthodox appeal and have reached a verdict,” one said, “all charges are dropped, effective immediately.” The platform from the floor pulled up, their mentors standing on it.</p>
<p>M’Gann almost yelled out of happiness, Conner looked just as shocked as she did. They fought back the urge to jump for joy.</p>
<p>“the former prisoners will be processed and released to your custody forthwith.” People moved towards them to release them of their hand cuffs.</p>
<p>“we did it,” M’Gann grinned, turning to Conner, “we did it!”</p>
<p>“we did it!” Conner repeated, just as excited.</p>
<p>“ha ha!” she gripped him in a hug, jumping about, unable to fight the relief.</p>
<p>“the justice league owes its freedom and reputation to you and the team,” Superman began.</p>
<p>“yeah, yeah, get into the speeches later,” Conner smiled and the two supers embraced.</p>
<p>M’Gann ran up to her uncle and hugged him, he smiled at her and she happily remarked, “I kept your plants alive!”</p>
<p>“get out of here, you lot!” one of the judges ordered.</p>
<p>“right, yes, thanks again!” M’Gann yelled back.</p>
<p>They all ducked out of the court room. M’Gann tugged on Conner’s sleeve.</p>
<p>“uh,” she whispered to him, “do you think we should tell Batman now or…?”</p>
<p>“might be a good idea,” Conner said.</p>
<p>“yeah.”</p>
<p>They glanced at each other for a few seconds.</p>
<p>“well, maybe…”</p>
<p>“shot not,” Conner said.</p>
<p>M’Gann stared at his back, insulted, as he sped up, beginning to explain to Superman that he and M’Gann would have to zeta back to earth and make sure nothing had gone wrong just yet. The leaguers would be arriving by other means, it would take them longer. M’Gann drifted back to walk by Batman.</p>
<p>“so,” she began, clearing her throat, “there’s something I should tell you before you get to earth.”</p>
<p>Batman frowned, “what?”</p>
<p>M’Gann almost felt bad for him. there was probably zero chance he had any idea about any of this. He was likely about to be surprised by something for the first time in years.</p>
<p>“well, uh, we kinda glossed over the Kaldur being a double agent thing, but uh…”</p>
<p>“spit it out,” Batman said.</p>
<p>“have you heard of Renegade?”</p>
<p>“yes,” Batman said, “efficient, got a name for professionalism in the business, works for Ra’s Al Ghul, not much else is known.”</p>
<p>“yes, well,” M’Gann said, swallowing down her worry, “we can add a few more things to his resume.”</p>
<p>“those being?”</p>
<p>“originally taught by Batman.”</p>
<p>He stopped, frozen.</p>
<p>“it’s Dick,” M’Gann said, turning to him, “Renegade is Richard Grayson.”</p>
<p>“what?” Batman said, staring at her, “how do you know this?”</p>
<p>“he was told to protect Kaldur, make sure he wasn’t conning them.”</p>
<p>“and he… introduced himself?”</p>
<p>“uh…” she grimaced, “I’m not entirely sure, but he persuaded Ra’s to mutiny from the Light, we won the battle at the summit with only minor scrapes cause of that support.”</p>
<p>M’Gann could see cogs turning in Batman’s head, if she strained her ears she’d probably hear them, too.</p>
<p>“Jason is also alive,” she said before she could stop herself, before she lost her nerve, “also… with Ra’s.”</p>
<p>Batman blinked. M’Gann had never seen him have a rug swept from beneath him before, she didn’t like seeing it now. It seemed unnatural. Batman was supposed to know everything.</p>
<p>“M’Gann, we have to go!” Conner called over his shoulder. He and the rest of the leaguers were ahead by a bit.</p>
<p>“right, yeah!” she nodded, then turned to Batman, “figured you might… you know, want to know before you get home.”</p>
<p>And then, before she died on the spot, she raced off to catch up with Conner so they could zeta home.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>                                                                                                           </p>
<p>Dick cleaned off the gross ooze on his blades, beginning to wish he had opted for something less sharp and less likely to end up covered in Reach blood. The hall of justice was gone and mount justice was gone, so the team was stuck meeting in a warehouse while Kaldur and the other leaders met in the watchtower.</p>
<p>He didn’t overly want to walk into the dull, cheap warehouse, he was happy waiting outside and doing his best to clean his gear. Blue Beetle had found information in Black Beetle’s memory that was apparently world ending. If Dick was being completely honest he was kinda over the world ending plots. They were just boring, couldn’t villains think of something new?</p>
<p>But nevertheless, when Kaldur had asked for his help attacking the Reach ship he’d said yes, and now here he was, Jason close by. He didn’t know why Jay had decided to stick around, he’d thought he’d head back to Nanda Parbat after they were done at Santa Prisca, but here he was.</p>
<p>Kaldur walked out of the door and Dick stood straight from where he’d been leaning against the wall.</p>
<p>“Artemis told me you were here,” he said, “not quite joining in yet?”</p>
<p>He shrugged, “seemed a little packed with people, figured I’d wait to find out what’s going on.”</p>
<p>“well,” Kaldur sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, “we have a way of saving the world, but it requires trusting Lex Luthor.”</p>
<p>Dick scowled, “why?”</p>
<p>“because there’s twenty bombs scattered across the globe and he’s the only one with tech that can deactivate them,” Kaldur explained.</p>
<p>“oh, brilliant, of course he is,” Dick pinched the bridge of his nose, “okay, I assume there’s gonna be a big ol’ meeting where you tell us the game plan, let’s go.”</p>
<p>Kaldur smiled, “let’s.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“every single magnetic field disrupter must be disabled before they chrysalis to guarantee Earth’s safety,” Luthor said, “each MFD is protected by multiple beetle tech drones, and each drone is the equivalent of a beetle warrior.”</p>
<p>Jason was standing next to Dick, mouthing along with Luthor while making faces. Dick was trying not to laugh at him. Kaldur looked over at them, Jay didn’t stop, Dick made a face of long suffering.</p>
<p>“there’s 40 of you here, so you’ll be in squads of two, with locations chosen specific to your abilities.”</p>
<p>Batgirl elbowed him in the side, grinning as if this was high school and the science teacher just said they could pick their partner for their experiment.</p>
<p>“all right, I have your assignments, we’ll distribute these eggs and go,” Atom said.</p>
<p>“ladies and gentlemen,” Luthor said, “the fate of the world is in your hands.”</p>
<p>“I hate him so much,” Jason said, waiting as they went through the list of squads and handed out the eggs.</p>
<p>"that was evident,” Robin said, “not that he doesn’t deserve it, but is there a specific thing he did?”</p>
<p>“he was born,” Jason snorted.</p>
<p>“he learned to speak,” Dick said.</p>
<p>“he lived past the age of five,” Jason said.</p>
<p>“one time he smiled and it ruined my life,” Barbara joined in.</p>
<p>“I heard he once threw a cat at someone,” Dick said.</p>
<p>“yeah, I heard he eats Kit-Kats by biting straight into them, like a maniac,” Jason said.</p>
<p>“also,” Dick laughed, “you know, racist, white-privileged straight prick who makes billions off the backs of his underpaid workforce.”</p>
<p>“and he’s killed like,” Jason shrugged, “millions of innocent civilians.”</p>
<p>“yeah,” Barbara said, “you know, so he did everything.”</p>
<p>“team sigma, Batgirl and Renegade,” Luthor announced, Barbara got up to take the egg, “Northern Bialya.”</p>
<p>Barbra groaned once she was next to him again, they headed off to where the bat-jet was, “great we’re fighting in a desert.”</p>
<p>“yeah?” Dick frowned, “wait, have you <em>not</em> done that?”</p>
<p>“are you kidding?” Barbara stared at the egg in her hands, “I work in <em>Gotham</em>. Why would I want to fight in a desert, all that sand? Gross.”</p>
<p>Dick broke into laughter.</p>
<p>“what? What’s funny?” Barbara asked.</p>
<p>Dick shook his head, “I’ve been living in a desert for six years, it’s not that hard.”</p>
<p>Barbara looked him up and down, “yeah, it’s great for your complexion,” she joked.</p>
<p>Dick snorted, “chill, the sand is only annoying if you start rolling around in it.”</p>
<p>“<em>great</em>, so no getting thrown into rocks,” Barbara said, “any more tips?”</p>
<p>“Uh,” Dick thought on it as they walked up to the jet, “it’ll be dark, so don’t worry about hyperthermia, worry more about staying still too long, you <em>will</em> get frostbite.”</p>
<p>“cool, cool,” she nodded, hitting a button on her glove. The glass windscreen opened up and the two climbed into the seats.</p>
<p>Barbara set the course for North Bialya and Dick stared at the interior. It had been updated and changed since he’d last been inside it. heck, the old one was probably blown up and this was just a very similar new version. Bat-jet 2.0. Dick had almost forgotten he was the one that made Bruce call everything by bat-whatever the hell it is. Before then it was just ‘the jet’.</p>
<p>“okay, try not to get too nostalgic on me,” Barbara said, taking the controls.</p>
<p>“why would I do that, it’s just a plane.”</p>
<p>Barbara snorted, lifting off into the air. As she did so the computer connected and the radio crackled.</p>
<p>“Miss Batgirl, I see we’re headed for Bialya,” a voice said, and Dick almost choked on air.</p>
<p>“that we are, Alfred, squad of two, say hi to Renegade,” she grinned, looking over her shoulder at him in the co-pilots seat, “I already told him everything, don’t worry.”</p>
<p>“uh… hi,” Dick said.</p>
<p>“eloquent,” Barbara chuckled.</p>
<p>“hey, you didn’t give me time to prepare.”</p>
<p>“the feeling is mutual, master Grayson.”</p>
<p>“uh, just Dick will do Alfred, it’s fine,” he said, “is this the part where I get to the apologies?”</p>
<p>“I’d prefer not,” Alfred said, “perhaps you may attempt them over a cup of tea, face to face?”</p>
<p>“sounds like a plan,” Dick said.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dick hit the ground. Hard.</p>
<p>“wow, you good?”</p>
<p>He raised his head from the ground, blinking. Normally he’d probably have a concussion but he let the electrum take care of that.</p>
<p>“thank you for warning me,” he said, playfully glaring at Barbara.</p>
<p>“oh no,” she said dead pan, flipping out of the way of a laser-beam, “incoming, six o’clock.”</p>
<p>Dick jumped and rolled out of the way right as a beam hit the ground where he was. He threw several explosives at the drone and jumped out of the way of the explosion. The bare bones of the drone remained and Barbara jumped and hit down with her Bo staff, the pieces crumpled.</p>
<p>“okay, one down, one to go,” Barbara huffed.</p>
<p>“I’ll distract it, you get to the MFD,” Dick said, running for the remaining droid.</p>
<p>It aimed for Barbara but Dick threw several shurikens. It shot a sonic wave at him and he ran out of the range, but his eardrums still burst. The electrum rushed in to heal them and he winced slightly but ran back in. there were several giant rock formations and he scaled up them, jumped down and stabbed the drone, it shuddered in the air but stayed afloat.</p>
<p>“I did not think this through,” he muttered to himself, wrapping his legs around the bottom of the drone as it started moving about and weaving through the air.</p>
<p>He got a good grip on the top of the droid then swung onto the top, twisting the hilt of his sword. The droid continued to shudder about through the air, sparking and whirring.</p>
<p>There were several holes in it, if only he could just shove his hand in there and pull out all the computer circuitry. If only he had a glove with claws on it or something. The one time the court had good ideas, god dammit.</p>
<p>Although, his ears were healed already…</p>
<p>He grit his teeth and took a deep breath, “why do I do this to myself?”</p>
<p>He shoved his hand in and grabbed hold of everything he could. When he pulled it back out the gloves of his gear were torn and a few cuts were healing. The drone was still moving.</p>
<p>“are you kidding?” he stared at it, “come <em>on</em>.”</p>
<p>It kept on frantically moving through the air and he had to grab on with both hands again. His feet slipped and he was once more dangling. The guns of the drone were trying to move and point backwards at him. he twisted and wrapped his legs around one, held on tighter to his hilt, still embedded in the drone, and grabbed another knife. he pulled himself up and stabbed into the hole in the drone, twisted the knife. The drone kept flying.</p>
<p>“Jesus Christ, come on!”</p>
<p>He wrenched the blade out and threw it away. He grabbed his last handful of explosive projectiles, shoved them into the hole and let go of the drone.</p>
<p>He hit the ground hard once more, hearing the crack of at least three bones as he groaned.</p>
<p>But the drone exploded and broke into pieces.</p>
<p>Dick took a deep breath, getting a nose full of dirt, he coughed but struggled up to his feet, wincing and holding his arm.</p>
<p>He looked over to where the MFD was, Barbara had just managed to get the egg to it. she turned and gave him a thumbs up.</p>
<p>“Sigma to Watchtower,” he said, “Batgirl has disabled the MFD, we’re on our way back, ETA 25 minutes.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“we missed one,” Atom flicked up a hologram, “the earth’s magnetic field is still disrupted.”</p>
<p><em>“Blue Beetle to Watchtower, I’m reading a 21<sup>st</sup> MFD in the Arctic,” </em>Jaime’s voice played through the computers, Wally stared at the hologram screens, <em>“hidden from my prior scans by the earth’s magnetic pole, sending coordinates.”</em></p>
<p>“there’s no zeta tubes in the arctic,” Artemis said, thoughtful, “how are we going to-“</p>
<p>“don’t worry about it,” Wally said, pointing to the screens.</p>
<p><em>“I’m on it,” </em>Flash said, and Impulse was quick to follow.</p>
<p>Wally stared as it was revealed they were too late to stop the MFD. Luthor’s idea to run counter to the energy flow could work but Impulse and Flash wouldn’t be enough.</p>
<p>“Do you think it’ll be enough?” Artemis asked. But Wally had already disappeared and her only answer was the tubes announcing the travel of QuickStart.</p>
<p>As Wally got closer to his uncle and cousin he picked up their conversation.</p>
<p>“even at our top speed I’m not certain the two of us can generate enough energy to counteract the MFD,” Barry said.</p>
<p>“then how about the three of us?” Wally grinned as he ran alongside his uncle, “can’t let the new kid take all the credit for saving the world.”</p>
<p>“so crash!” Impulse grinned, “try to keep up!”</p>
<p>He sped ahead and Barry stared at where he’d been with a sigh, “that kid is a handful.”</p>
<p>“yeah, have fun dealing with him.”</p>
<p>“what?”</p>
<p>“let’s just say I’m interested in bringing back the yellow and red, and not wearing it myself,” he grinned, then mock saluted, “anyway, more important stuff, gotta save the world.”</p>
<p>He then caught up to Impulse, cackling.</p>
<p>“uh, so dude, question,” Bart said awkwardly, “just a thought, the history books are kinda barebones on speedsters but I always thought you were slower than Flash?”</p>
<p>Wally frowned, “yeah, when I was Kid Flash I was way slower,” Wally said, frowning, “why do you ask?”</p>
<p>“no reason, just worried about, you know, the giant bomb we’re running around and the kinetic energy, what if you being slower than us cause problems, or-“</p>
<p>“don’t worry about it kiddo,” he smiled, “long story, but I didn’t get the scar for no reason, I had a bit of an experience in the speed force,” he chuckled, “wasn’t easy, but I’m here now, aren’t I?”</p>
<p>Impulse grinned, “hell yeah,” he laughed, “well, then… race you!” he sped off once more, hitting his top speed.</p>
<p>“oh, I see how it is!” Wally kept running, approaching his top speed. Barry finally caught up.</p>
<p>“you want <em>Bart </em>to be Kid Flash?!”</p>
<p>“yeah, why not?” Wally shrugged, “the kid needs it, he’s clearly hero material, he just needs a few kinks ironed out.”</p>
<p>“I just… hadn’t thought…” Barry stuttered, looking for something to say.</p>
<p>“hey, we’ve had multiple Robins, who says we can’t have multiple Kid Flashes?”</p>
<p>“right, yeah,” Barry said, smiling.</p>
<p>“you’re thinking of something, what happened?”</p>
<p>“tell you later, Walls.”</p>
<p><em>“yeah, well just finish up on saving the world, speedsters,” </em>Atom’s voice played over the communicators, <em>“cause our friends from Rimbor are almost home.”</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The leaguers arrived to find Mount Justice levelled.</p>
<p>“are we… too late?”</p>
<p>Superman stared at the landscape, eyes wide. His fellow leaguers just as shocked.</p>
<p>And then they were joined by the heroes they’d left behind. Flying in, landing on Sphere, all modes of transport from every direction.</p>
<p>Superman stared at Artemis, the leader of the team when they’d left. Aqualad was back, the original leader. But batgirl had also stepped in, according to M’Gann. Who was he supposed to…</p>
<p>“Aqualad,” Batman said, “what happened here?”</p>
<p>“fear not,” he said, “the crisis has been averted.”</p>
<p>The moment of quiet was short lived, as proteges leaped into hugs with mentors, friends shook hands, beginning to spin tales.</p>
<p>Kaldur walked closer, stepping up to Batman.</p>
<p>“there are some people here to see you.”</p>
<p>“M’Gann told me,” he said, still not entirely believing it himself.</p>
<p>Kaldur nodded, “good.” He gestured over to the side, away from the flattened piece of the mountain to where scattered rocks and boulders were, the blast uneven, “but hearing and seeing are two different things.”</p>
<p>Kaldur lead him over to where two people stood, clad in dark colours and armed to the teeth. Batman just caught the end of their conversation as they noticed them there.</p>
<p>“look, I’m just saying, pirates are <em>way </em>cooler, okay,” the shorter one said.</p>
<p>“you are literally an assassin, how can you-“</p>
<p>“yeah, and look at us, pirates look way cooler, have you seen their jackets, that’s fashion.”</p>
<p>Kaldur cleared his throat and the two looked at him, smiling beneath their hoods. Batman’s breath caught in his throat.</p>
<p>“I’ll… leave you three to talk.”</p>
<p>Batman looked between the two, completely at odds with the situation and how to control it.</p>
<p>The taller one dropped their hood and Bruce was frozen staring at him. the sixteen year old married up with the stranger.</p>
<p>“long time,” Bruce said, trying to get an idea on how this would go.</p>
<p>Dick rose an eyebrow, “that’s an understatement.”</p>
<p>“and you’ve been… with Ra’s.”</p>
<p>“yeah,” Dick said, “you’re surprised?”</p>
<p>“a little.”</p>
<p>Dick snorted, “you’re kidding?”</p>
<p>“why would I not be?”</p>
<p>Dick stared at him, working his jaw. He shook his head, scoffed, “no of course not, I can’t believe…” he laughed to himself, bitter, “yeah, no, I can’t stop myself.”</p>
<p>Bruce frowned, confused, he opened his mouth to ask a question-</p>
<p>Dick punched him in the face.</p>
<p>Bruce rubbed at his jaw, “what the hell was that-“</p>
<p>“I almost forgot why I started hating you in the first place,” Dick scowled, “you knew, you knew all about my dad and my sister and you never fucking told me.”</p>
<p>“I thought you wouldn’t-“</p>
<p>“and what <em>you</em> thought mattered?” Dick laughed, “Bruce, it’s my family history, you don’t get to hide it from me just because you <em>think </em>I won’t like it.”</p>
<p>“I was protecting you.”</p>
<p>“oh, yeah, you’re great at that,” Jason broke in scowling, “your protection has a pretty long track record of getting people hurt.”</p>
<p>Bruce dropped the hand from his face, sighing, “yes, I suppose you’re right.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dick had never seen Bruce genuinely look apologetic. He supposed there was a first for everything.</p>
<p>Bruce pursed his lips, “I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>Dick blinked, gaping, “what?”</p>
<p>“you expect me to believe that?” Jason asked, “I don’t think you know the meaning of the word sorry.”</p>
<p>“Jay,” Dick said.</p>
<p>“no, come on, you can’t really be buying this,” Jay scowled, “this is the guy that tried to fire us from a job he had no right to control and-“</p>
<p>“I was trying to keep you safe.”</p>
<p>“you were trying to control us,” Jay scowled.</p>
<p>“Jason I-“</p>
<p>“and not even that, but it was mere <em>months</em>,” Jason shouted, “months and you already had a replacement!”</p>
<p>“Tim isn’t a replacement-“</p>
<p>“what, do you just grieve at record speeds?” Jason scowled, “you can mope about your parents for decades but I get a few weeks, trust me I got the hint.”</p>
<p>“Jason-“</p>
<p>“no, look,” Dick cut in, “Bruce you can’t just apologise and expect it to go away, but we all made mistakes in this situation.”</p>
<p>“I did not-“</p>
<p>“Jay you literally ran after the Joker on your own in a fit of rage,” Dick said, “and I have a list as long as my arm of mistakes, but,” he pointed a finger at Bruce, “so do you.”</p>
<p>“but-“ Jason blurted.</p>
<p>“Dick,” Bruce started, “I know I should have told you but-“</p>
<p>“nope,” Dick said, “no more excuses, no more debating on who’s fault, how about…” Dick sighed, “we just agree to act like responsible adults who don’t hold ridiculous grudges.”</p>
<p>“well I’m not an adult so…” Jason held up a middle finger, “fuck y’all.”</p>
<p>“okay,” Dick pushed Jason’s hand down, “come on Jay, you can’t fester in hatred for the rest of your life.”</p>
<p>“who says?” he grumbled.</p>
<p>“well, I can agree on my end,” Bruce said, holding a hand out, “I don’t expect a complete turn-around, but I hope we can at least… try.”</p>
<p>Dick smiled and shook his hand, “I can do that.” He sighed, “but, this isn’t an easy decision, more so…”</p>
<p>“trying to keep things together,” Bruce said, “you were always good at that.”</p>
<p>Dick scoffed, “oh, yeah, evidently.”</p>
<p>“don’t force yourself to be civil if you’re not there yet,” Bruce said, “I’m sorry and I deserved the punch.”</p>
<p>“oh, yeah, there was no doubt about that,” Dick snickered, “but don’t expect me to be moving back in. ever,” Dick shrugged, “but I’ll call you if I need a hand, I guess,” he smiled, “to be honest I’m being civil with you so I can talk to Alfred again, I miss him.”</p>
<p>“that’s fair,” Bruce allowed the smallest of smiles. He sobered, “are you… staying with the assassins?”</p>
<p>“you bet,” Jason scoffed, “as soon as this mess is over I am out of here.”</p>
<p>Dick smiled, “I started talking to Ra’s about leaving.”</p>
<p>“wait what?” Jason took a double take, staring at him, “you’re <em>what</em>?”</p>
<p>“oh,” Bruce blinked, “will he let you?”</p>
<p>“he’s not sure,” Dick shrugged, “Thalia would need a new guard and also I don’t really have a plan as to where I’m going, but I think he’ll say yes.”</p>
<p>Bruce nodded, “well, if you need it you can… ‘crash’, at the manor.”</p>
<p>Dick winced, “let’s not take it too far.”</p>
<p>“right, yeah,” Bruce cleared his throat, “taking this slow.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“remind me again <em>what I’m doing here</em>?” Dick asked, leaning over to Kaldur.</p>
<p>“you helped us tremendously,” Kaldur said, smiling, “you should at least be around for the final congratulations speech.”</p>
<p>“yes, it was great, Superman is so eloquent,” Dick rolled his eyes, “Look Kal-“</p>
<p>The two paused their conversations as Atom walked by with Canary, overhearing what they were saying.</p>
<p>“And on the note of Luthor and the secretary general, I officially turn my chairmanship of the league over to you.” Atom said, smiling.</p>
<p>“wow,” Canary said, voice dry, “thanks so much.”</p>
<p>Kaldur turned back to Dick, laughing slightly, “Batgirl is stepping down as leader, Artemis is taking a leave of absence.”</p>
<p>“and you?”</p>
<p>“may just follow her example, for a month at least,” he shrugged, “just to get some time to… think.”</p>
<p>“I see,” Dick nodded.</p>
<p>“what will you do?”</p>
<p>“well,” Dick sighed, “I have to finish my conversation with Ra’s about resigning, after that…” he shrugged, “I’ll pack a bag and trip it round.”</p>
<p>“you would be… welcome on the team,” Kaldur said, slow, “if you wanted.”</p>
<p>Dick smiled, shook his head, “I don’t think so. I think I’ll go solo for a while.”</p>
<p>Kaldur nodded, “I’m not surprised.”</p>
<p>Dick looked at the zeta tubes, “anyway, I need to get going.”</p>
<p>“right yeah,” Kaldur said, then seemed to have a thought. “mind if I join you?”</p>
<p>Dick frowned but nodded, “sure, come along.”</p>
<p>They went through without trouble, arriving at Bludhaven.</p>
<p>“how are you getting to Nanda Parbat?”</p>
<p>“someone will be picking me up,” Dick said, likely Duvall, he pointed at the building, “from that tower, on the roof.”</p>
<p>Kaldur nodded, took a deep breath as if steadying himself. Or looking for confidence.</p>
<p>“I’ve got a… safe house, I suppose you’d call it,” Kaldur said, “in Nevada of all places,” he snorted, shaking his head, “that’s where I’m headed till I’ve got everything put back together,” he stuffed his hands in his pockets, “I could give you the address if you wanted to visit.”</p>
<p>Dick stared, slightly surprised for a moment, then smiled, “I’d like that.”</p>
<p>Kaldur told him the address and Dick put it in his phone. He dug a piece of paper and pen out of his pocket and wrote something on it.</p>
<p>“figured I’d bring a sense of normalcy, I suppose,” he said, smiling, he handed over the paper, “my number.”</p>
<p>Kaldur smiled, laughing slightly, but he put it in his pocket.</p>
<p>“I’ve gotta get going,” Dick said, not bothering to mask the fact he was slightly annoyed by that, “But I’ll sneak up on you some time, we can get a cup of coffee.”</p>
<p>“that would be nice,” Kaldur said.</p>
<p>As Dick turned to walk away, however, he grabbed his hand.</p>
<p>“wait,” he said, and turned Dick around. before he lost his nerve he leaned in and kissed him. when they pulled apart he rubbed at the back of his neck, “just, uh…” he had no explanation, he could only awkwardly smile.</p>
<p>Dick chuckled, “I’ll come over next Friday,” he said, then kissed Kaldur on the cheek and turned away.</p>
<p>“I’ll see you then!” Kaldur called after him, grinning uncontrollably, face warm.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dick turned down the end of the street, Ra’s was standing beside a light post.</p>
<p>“oh,” Dick said, staring, “I thought Duvall would be picking me up.”</p>
<p>“I wanted to talk to you,” Ra’s said, “but I don’t think there’s much to talk about.”</p>
<p>“what’s that supposed to mean?”</p>
<p>Ra’s smiled, nodding down the alley to where the phone booth housing the zeta tube was.</p>
<p>“he seems like a nice man,” Ra’s said.</p>
<p>Dick couldn’t help but laugh. He ran his hand through his hair, “he is, yeah.”</p>
<p>Ra’s nodded. Then sighed. “you have my blessing to leave the league, if you so wish,” he said.</p>
<p>Dick almost hugged him again.</p>
<p>“on the condition,” Ra’s said quickly, “that you come back to visit every now and then.”</p>
<p>“can do.”</p>
<p>“good,” Ra’s said, leaning on his cane, “now, let’s head home, you can start packing, Alex can interrogate you about him.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Epilogue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h2>
  <strong><a id="_Toc51932421" name="_Toc51932421"></a>Epilogue</strong>
</h2><p> </p><p> </p><p>Wally huffed as he picked up the cardboard box, heavier than he’d expected, and started carrying it into the front yard.</p><p>“thanks, Wally,” Iris called, “just set that one with the rest of the kitchen stuff.”</p><p>Wally nodded and placed the box with the ten others that held objects from the kitchen. He stretched out his back when he stood, watching as Iris picked up another box and fit it into the boot of her car.</p><p>“nope, let me take that,” Bart said, as she lifted another one.</p><p>“I’m <em>fine</em>.” Iris said.</p><p>Artemis swept in to grab the box she was reaching for, “the doctor said no strenuous activity.”</p><p>Iris sighed, absolutely exasperated. Wally grinned.</p><p>“has the twin thing been confirmed yet or are we still just going by Bart’s word?”</p><p>“it’s confirmed,” Iris said, hand trailing to her belly, where she was well and truly showing, “they’re saying late October, early November.”</p><p>Artemis gasped, “Halloween baby?”</p><p>Wally laughed, Iris made a face, “stop fussing,” she said, adamantly picking up a box to put in the car, “Wally could you go help your uncle in the guest bedroom?”</p><p>Wally nodded and headed back into the house. He took a pit stop in the kitchen, then walked straight into the guest bedroom.</p><p>Barry was staring at a photo, sitting on the bed. He seemed slightly teary-eyed.</p><p>“hey,” Wally said, sitting next to him on the bed, “what’s wrong?”</p><p>“just, you know,” Barry shrugged, not taking his eyes off the photo, “thinking.”</p><p>“yep,” Wally said, “I thought you would be,” he handed Barry one of the bottles he’d grabbed in the kitchen, “which is why I brought thinking fuel, drink up.”</p><p>Barry laughed, “okay, if you insist.”</p><p>Wally took a sip then turned to Barry, “so what you thinkin’ about?”</p><p>“I’m gonna be a dad.”</p><p>Wally nodded, “yep, yes, that is, yeah.” Wally shrugged, “that is a thing that is happening.”</p><p>“and it’s insane,” Barry said, “like, not to be stereotypical or anything, but… am I gonna mess this up?”</p><p>“Barry,” Wally shook his head, taking another sip of his drink, “you’re gonna be a great dad.”</p><p>“am I though?” Barry asked, “my first dip in that pool was with you and you literally ran away.”</p><p>“that can’t be blamed on you,” Wally said, “I had a really shitty father, it kinda ruined your chances.”</p><p>Barry snorted, “still, I didn’t do anything to help you, I just pushed you away.”</p><p>“Barry you’re gonna do great,” Wally said, “my time as Kid Flash was amazing and that’s largely because you were an amazing mentor who taught me so much.”</p><p>“yeah but I have to do it from the start, like, when they’re <em>babies</em>,” Barry was still staring at the photo and Wally finally peeked over his shoulder at it. it was him and Iris at their second anniversary, Wally was in the bottom hand corner making a face and his mother was standing next to Iris.</p><p>Wally sighed and plucked the photo from his hands, “look, Barry.” He placed the photo on the bed beside him, “you’re gonna be fine, and you have so many friends who have kids that you can ask for help.”</p><p>Barry nodded, “right, yeah.” He took a deep breath and stood, putting the bottle on the ground, “stand up, come on.”</p><p>Wally frowned, “whaaaaaat are we doing?”</p><p>“Stand up,” Barry said.</p><p>Wally frowned but did, putting down his bottle and crossing his arms.</p><p>“okay,” Barry said, “Iris has a job, I have a job, we regularly work overtime or bring work home, with everything in my life I think I sleep an hour a day,” Barry said, “so, between me and Iris having two kids is gonna be real hard, especially if I’m dressing up in the suit and stuff so,” Barry smiled and took off the flash ring that held the suit, “Wally West I hereby offer you,” he held the ring to Wally, “the role as The Flash.”</p><p>Wally blinked, staring at the ring outstretched.</p><p>“did you get drunk from three sips of beer?”</p><p>“I am perfectly sober,” Barry said, grinning, “this is something I’ve been thinking about sine Bart showed up.”</p><p>“Barry… I can’t take this,” he smiled, “you don’t mean it.”</p><p>“I do.”</p><p>“but-“</p><p>“I do, Wally,” Barry said, “I’m about to have two kids, <em>at once</em>, okay, I don’t have time to save the city,” he smiled, pushing the ring closer to Wally’s face, “you’ve been going solo for six years-“</p><p>“not consecutive.”</p><p>“doesn’t matter,” Barry said, “point is, you’re good at what you do and I think if anyone deserves to wear the red it’s you,” he snorted, “plus, you know, this way you get to deal with Bart.”</p><p>Wally shook his head, laughing, “okay.”</p><p>“okay?”</p><p>“okay,” Wally said, nodding, “okay, I’ll do it.”</p><p>“Ha ha!” Barry grinned, hugging Wally, then handed him the ring.</p><p>“I’m gonna need a different suit,” Wally said looking at the ring, “we’re a different size.”</p><p>“ssh,” barry said, “just take the ring and we’ll figure the rest out later.”</p><p>They walked out into the front yard, picking up their bottles again and thinking up the perfect way to tell everyone.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Artemis smiled as she watched the blur rush past. She aimed her cross bow and fired at it, a bolas flew and caught him in the legs.</p><p>Wally looked up, “what the hell?!”</p><p>Artemis cackled, shot a grapple dart and swung down to him.</p><p>“hey there, Flash.”</p><p>“what the hell Artemis.”</p><p>“ah, ah,” she grinned, “check the stripes, hun.”</p><p>Wally blinked, “Tigress?”</p><p>“Artemis was Green Arrow’s protégé,” she shrugged, offering Wally her hand, “figured I’d give Tigress a chance.”</p><p>“as a hero?”</p><p>She smiled, “as a blonde.” she kissed him, “now let’s go get some crooks.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Kaldur woke up to his alarm, which had been snoozed about eight times, at ten o’clock. Way too late for him but he’d stayed up late the night before doing work.</p><p>He turned it off, slipped on a shirt and headed to the kitchen. He put the coffee jug on and two slices of bread in the toaster. He checked his phone as he waited for the two things to be ready. There was a text from Wally about his first night out as The Flash and one from M’Gann about the party she wanted to throw as a bit of a six month anniversary of not being killed by the reach. He had a voicemail and he listened to it as he poured his coffee.</p><p>
  <em>“hey Kal, uh, Mera and I wanted to head out for dinner next Saturday, we were hoping maybe you could babysit? It’s Arthur, by the way, uh, yeah, just call me back-“</em>
</p><p>Kaldur laughed as he turned the phone off, Aquaman was hopeless with phones.</p><p>He took his coffee and toast out to the front porch of the house, staring out at the beach, the sun bright in the sky. He could smell the salt on the air and hear birds in the distance.</p><p>By the time he’d finished his coffee he’d gotten another text. This one from Dick, it just read: <em>thirty minutes, wear something warm.</em></p><p>Kaldur washed up his dishes, had a shower, brushed his teeth and dressed. He heard the bike coming and headed out to the front.</p><p>Dick had pulled up and was leaning against his bike, wearing a leather jacket and aviators. He had one helmet under his arm, the other hooked on the back of the bike.</p><p>“wow,” Kaldur said, grinning, “really living for the stereotype, huh?”</p><p>Dick smiled back, “well, I figured, why not?” he shrugged and held out his spare helmet, “wanna live the rom com?”</p><p>Kaldur smiled, took the helmet, then leaned down and kissed him, “I’d be glad.”</p><p>It was indeed very rom com-esque, because Kaldur didn’t have much experience with motorbikes and ended up clinging to Dick more than he expected. Although, Dick drove like a madman.</p><p>By the time they got to the restaurant Kaldur was glad to still be alive.</p><p>Dick tossed the keys to the valet, stuck his sunglasses in the collar of his jacket and held his hand out for Kaldur, who accepted with a smile.</p><p>“how’d you manage to get away from Bludhaven?” he asked as they walked into the foyer, “isn’t the crime there more insane than Gotham?”</p><p>Dick shrugged, “I made time.”</p><p>A waiter strode up to them, “can I find you a table this evening, gentlemen?”</p><p>“I have one booked, actually,” Dick said and Kaldur stared in surprise, “should be under Grayson?”</p><p>“oh, yes,” the water smiled, “right this way mister and mister Grayson.”</p><p>“uh, no, we’re not-“</p><p>Kaldur snorted and tapped his shoulder, “it’s fine, it’s funny.”</p><p>The waiter showed them to a table for two by the window that looked out on the beach. Dick gave the waiter a drinks order, having somehow managed to pick up on Kaldur’s favourite drink at some point.</p><p>“so,” Kaldur began, “still going by Renegade?”</p><p>Dick shrugged, “I can’t think of a new name, to be honest.”</p><p>Kaldur laughed, “you should just think of something really obvious.”</p><p>“well,” Dick shrugged, “that’s kinda what Renegade is. Thalia was like ‘you need a name. hey, you’re a teen rebel. Be renegade’ and I just kinda went with it.”</p><p>“okay,” Kaldur smiled, “well, I’m gonna come up with a name for you, ask me when we’re finished lunch.”</p><p>“okay,” Dick laughed, “let’s talk about something other than work.”</p><p>“yeah,” Kaldur said, going with the first thing he thought of, “did you see the trailer for that new show om Netflix?”</p><p>“the hero one? Oh my god, yes,” Dick laughed, “I can’t believe they’re making a super hero show, like, who would watch that?”</p><p>“I intend to just so I can make fun of it,” Kaldur said.</p><p>Dick gasped, “we should binge it together when it comes out.”</p><p> </p><p>Kaldur was mildly annoyed because Dick refused to let him pay, but he did, at least, let him pretend to escort him to his bike, safe in the carpark.</p><p>“I got another text from Artemis, offering me a place on the team.”</p><p>Kaldur nodded, “oh?”</p><p>Dick shrugged, “I’m thinking about it,” he said, “but also, Canary offered me a place on the league.”</p><p>Kaldur raised his eyebrows, “quite the choice.”</p><p>“yep,” Dick sighed, as if he could breathe away all his troubles if he tried hard enough.</p><p>“you know,” Kaldur shrugged, “I think, whichever you choose, play your cards right and you’ll probably be leading one of them within three years.”</p><p>“oh, great,” Dick said, “sounds fun.”</p><p>Kaldur laughed, “do you remember when we started the team? And all you wanted was to be the leader.”</p><p>Dick laughed, shaking his head, “god, that feels so long ago.”</p><p>Kaldur almost died once more, as he experienced Dick’s driving, but this time it was exhilarating because he knew what to expect.</p><p>He invited Dick in when they got to his place. The next morning while they were waiting for the coffee pot to boil Dick turned to Kaldur.</p><p>“so what’s your idea for my hero name?”</p><p>Kaldur cocked his head, thinking, he smiled.</p><p>“Nightwing.”</p>
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